Living With You
by LadyBranwen2012
Summary: Bulma is sick of Vegeta always harassing her, so she falsly accuses him of rape. What will Vegeta do? How will Yamcha react? Updated July 6,06: Vegeta and Yamcha face off! and Bulma has another crazy plan!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: No one here on this site own DBZ...including me. :'(

Living with You

Chapter 1

"_Well you are welcome to stay at Capsule Corp, Vegeta."_

_He snorted with disdain._

It had been months since Bulma had spoken those words and Vegeta had seemed to scorn them. Things worked out in the end, and now the Great Vegeta, Prince of All Saiyans, was living in Capsule Corporation with Bulma and her family. At first, living together had been a chore and EVERYONE had to adjust to Vegeta's stubbornness and his whims. Apparently, even though Vegeta had not been an actual prince for many years, he still had the idea that everyone should cater to him. Luckily for him, he was tough and intimidating, so virtually everyone complied with his demands. Even Bulma had done everything he wanted for the longest time…

Now that everyone was living together in relative peace and settled into the new living conditions, Bulma wished that she had her old life back. As in…not having to work on new robots everyday for Vegeta to use, or to fix the ones he had already broken, or to upgrade the gravity room her father had created for Vegeta's use.

"It's time that someone puts him in his place," Bulma said to herself.

She was looking out of her bedroom window across the grounds in the direction of the gravity room. It was rumbling loudly and a faint light shone from out the one window it had. Bulma knew that Vegeta was in there, training very hard for his next fight with Goku. She had no idea what was driving him so hard to beat Goku; it wasn't logical at all.

"Goku is such a strong guy…And even if Vegeta does beat him, you can never really win against Goku, he would only say something like, 'Aw, too bad I lost…Oh well, maybe I'll win next time.'" It seemed that Goku never took anything seriously and Bulma highly doubted that he was as focused on his next match with Vegeta as Vegeta himself was.

Now she planned to wait until the usual time Vegeta decided to go to bed, and then…she would corner him!

"Right on time…" she muttered, smirking.

The whirring stopped in the gravity room, the light shut off and a sweaty and tired looking Saiyan stepped out, using a towel to wipe the sweat off of his face and neck. Bulma rushed away from her spot at the window and went to the top of the stairs where she waited for the usual sounds of Vegeta getting a midnight snack. After a few minutes she heard the refrigerator door open and she knew it was time to make her move. Stealthily she crept down the stairs and approached him from behind. One tiny detail she forgot to include in all her calculations: Saiyans have SUPERB hearing abilities.

"What do you want?"

He wasn't exactly irritated, rather he was tired and didn't feel like going in circles with her again, calling her "Woman" and Bulma yelling at him for treating her like a slave by not acknowledging her individuality.

"You're raiding my fridge," she replied, deciding not to get directly to the point.

"It's my 'fridge' as well and has been for the past five months. You have known about my eating at twelve or one in the morning, anytime after I've finished training. And yet," and here he finally turned to face her, "this is the first time you have decided to say anything about it." He took a long swig of milk straight from the jug; he knew she hated that. Even though he was tired and not in the mood to deal with her, Vegeta found that he couldn't resist annoying Bulma at least a little.

"Fine. I'll get to the point, Vegeta. I wanted you to know--"

"Hey," he cut in, "What did I say about calling me by my name?"

"Ugh. No, I'm not going to call you, Vegeta, Prince of Saiyans. You aren't my prince in the least! I don't have to say anything out of respect to you." He stood smirking at her.

"You just said it anyway…"

Bulma ignored him and continued. "I wanted to let you know how I feel about you treating us all like crap!"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. He grabbed a few more items out of the fridge and sat grudgingly at the table, muttering that he would be there for a while.

"Yes, you will be here for a while, Vegeta. Listen…" she sat down across from him, "You can't go on making demands of us. We let you stay here because you had no where else to go. Where would have stayed? You have no money for this planet…Kami forbid you get a job, that would mean less time to train! You are lucky we let you stay here! Why can't you show a little more appreciation? All you do is demand to be fed and to have the stuff you break fixed. You could at least say 'please' or something. No! You ORDER us to do all this stuff for you, and never thank us or even do your own laundry. Vegeta, I'm not saying change overnight, I'm not saying become a housemaid. What I am saying is please do not think that you can get away with being a jerk! All you are doing is making us afraid of you and getting us to do what you want." Here he smirked. "Wouldn't you rather have us doing things for you willingly? When you were really a prince and you actually had subjects to rule over, didn't you want loyalty out of them? Did you want to have to bully them into following you or your father's rule? I'm guessing that you would much rather they followed you because they like you and trust you. Right?"

Vegeta shrugged, "Any way I could get things done. Are you done?"

She sighed, "I don't know, am I? Are you going to behave better than you have been?"

"I don't think so."

Bulma let out a growl and gave up.

"I hate him!" she thought to herself while lying in bed. She could hear Vegeta showering a few doors down from her room. She couldn't believe that she hadn't gotten anything accomplished.

"Why did I have to offer a place for him here? What was I thinking? I knew he was a ticking time bomb, and I still thought it would be a good idea to let him stay here. I'm such an idiot! …Maybe I should kick him out of the house. Well…I can't. I'm not strong enough…Yamcha is strong though…he could do it for me! Yeah!" She sat up in bed with a wild smile plastered on her face. "I'll tell him that Vegeta threatened my life! And that he tried to rape me, no he DID rape me…and I'm scared…my family is scared…I might be pregnant…Oh I better call Yamcha now while I'm on a roll."

She quickly rolled out of bed and ran to her phone and dialed Yamcha's number.

"…He-llooo?" Yamcha yawned a greeting into the phone.

Bulma thought of a dying puppy and started her campaign for Vegeta's removal from her home. "Oh Yamcha," she cried, "Vegeta…he…he did something very bad."

"Mmm…did he break the machines again? Do you know that it's like two in the morning?"

"No, Yamcha, listen to me…you're the only one I feel like I can tell, and I just don't want to tell you. I wonder what you'll think when I tell you. Please, Yamcha, don't leave me! I need someone to be here for me right now." She broke out sobbing.

Apparently Yamcha was more alert now, for there was no trace of grogginess in his voice any longer. "What happened, Bulma? What did he do?" There was command and power in his voice that Bulma had never heard before. It startled her so much she forgot to answer him. "Bulma? Hello? Are you there?"

"What? Oh! Yamcha, I don't know how to say it…"

"It's okay, just tell me."

"Vegeta raped me! I'm so scared Yamcha! He's crazy! He just cornered me out of nowhere. He never talks to me except about those stupid machines and just now he cornered me downstairs and… did things to me."

"Oh…Kami, I'm so sorry Bulma….How crazy is he?" The commanding tone was gone and was replaced by a squeak of a voice that painfully told Bulma that she would have to do everything to make Yamcha mad instead of scared.

"Please, Yamcha, come here and kick him out of the house. You're so strong--"

"Not as strong as him!"

"You're amazing, I bet you could get rid of him. What if he goes after my mom next? What if he blows up the house? Come over, Yamcha."

Yamcha debated with himself on the other end of the phone. "Um…well I guess I should, huh? Yeah, Bulma, I'll be there soon."

Soon turned out to be 7 am the next day.

"Thank God Vegeta really didn't rape me, or else I would have killed Yamcha since he left me in the house with Vegeta after telling him something like that."

Vegeta was eating his breakfast when Yamcha knocked on the front door. As calmly and inconspicuously as she could, Bulma stopped eating and went to answer the door. Yamcha looked white, but his jaw was set. "It must have taken him a long time to work up courage to stand up to Vegeta," Bulma thought. "Hi," she said in a quiet tone.

"Where is he?" Yamcha asked. The squeak was barely noticeable now.

"He's eating." Bulma made her eyes wide and scared, "Please be careful, Yamcha."

Yamcha walked purposefully into the kitchen and stared at Vegeta and half turned to run back out of the kitchen again. Bulma, however, was standing in his way, with her eyes still wide, tears welling up and spilling out, breaking Yamcha's heart. "Vegeta, I want to talk to you," he heard himself saying gruffly.

"About what human? And hurry up, I need to get to my training."

Yamcha turned to look at Bulma again, but she was already gone, hiding so that she wouldn't see the wrath on Vegeta's face when he heard about the lie she had told.

"What you did to Bulma last night was unforgivable! She and her family were kind enough to let you stay here, and you repay them by taking advantage of her like that!"

Vegeta looked up from his pile of pancakes with a confused look on his face. "What? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! All I did was refuse to say please!"

"And that's the problem! You didn't ask Bulma to do what you did and now she's scared of you. I thought you were supposed to have pride. Do you have pride in what you did to her?"

"We argue all the time." Vegeta shoved a whole pancake in his mouth and grabbed his glass of milk, ready to drink some.

"Raping is not called arguing, Vegeta!"

The glass never got to Vegeta's lips as it had shattered in his hand. "What!" He stood up abruptly and knocked his chair over in the process.

"Don't try to deny it, Vegeta, Bulma called and told me all about it last night. She is scared for her life with you around and being so…so…barbaric. Just because she is a girl and she invited you to stay here since you don't have anywhere to go, that doesn't mean that she invited you to have sex with her. And if she told you not to, and you did it anyway, well then that's just wrong. She's worried about what you'll do to her mother!"

"Shut up already!" Vegeta growled back. "I didn't do anything to her last night, or any other night for that matter. I came in after training, she wanted me to be kinder to her family, I refused, she got mad and left, then I took a shower and went to sleep. That is all, not that I should have to answer to any human about such an outrageous accusation. What exactly did she say to you when she called you?"

"She said you cornered her and did things to her. Bulma was crying last night Vegeta, she doesn't cry that often, so I'm pretty sure you had to have done something."

"I did what I said I did. There are camera's all around this place," he pointed to the two security camera's in the kitchen and gestured to the one in the hallway, "take a look at the ones from last night and you will see the truth."

With those words, Vegeta left the kitchen and slammed the door shut behind him before going towards the gravity room. Yamcha stood at a loss. He was supposed to have kicked Vegeta out of the house, but it didn't quite happen. What about Vegeta's side of the story? What if he were right and Bulma had made up a lie?

"Yamcha? Is he gone? For good?"

Yamcha turned and saw Bulma standing in the doorway, her arms crossed protectively in front of her and her eyes still puffy from crying. "He…uh…went to the gravity room. He said he didn't do anything to you last night and I never got around to kicking him out of the house. He left on his own before I could."

"But Yamcha! He can't stay here!"

"Well, he said I should check the cameras to see what really happened…that doesn't sound like a thing he would say if he really did rape you…"

Bulma gaped at him. "You…don't believe me? Why would I lie about something like this!"

"Indeed, why would you?" Vegeta's voice rang loudly in the kitchen.

Bulma stood frozen in place for a second before rushing to Yamcha's arms. Vegeta glared at her. This time, Bulma wasn't pretending to be scared, she really was.

Cheers to my return! Please review! It's been a while and I hope my writing is still good :)

Lady Branwen


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z or any of its characters or songs, etc…

Living with You

Chapter 2

Bulma stared at Vegeta in mute horror. "Where did he come from?" she wondered frantically.

Vegeta crossed his arms, indicating that he wasn't leaving until he got an answer to his question.

"Well?" he asked viciously. "Why would you say such a lie? You KNOW I didn't touch you at all last night. What are you up to?"

Bulma stayed completely mute, unable to think or act in any way.

"Leave her alone, Vegeta." Yamcha wrapped his arms protectively around Bulma, thinking that if Vegeta did in fact try to attack them, at least Yamcha would die first and would look like he had tried to protect her. Neither of them stood a chance against Vegeta; they all knew it.

"Vegeta…" she began tentatively, "you know what you did, don't deny it."

She had had her opportunity to back out, but instead she chose to continue lying.

"What are you at?" he asked suspiciously. This was an odd thing for her to do and he wondered what could possibly have set her off that would make her say such a thing. "You and I both know that what you are accusing me of is a lie. What do you want from me?"

"…Nothing."

Vegeta gritted his teeth. He realized that she wasn't going to admit anything. He didn't have to talk to her any longer to figure that out. At least she wasn't going to admit to her lie in front of her boyfriend. Vegeta planned in his mind how he would confront her later when no one else stood in his way. He needed answers. Why was the woman suddenly falsely accusing him of raping her? Sure, he had not agreed to be nicer to her in words, but he had been entertaining the idea. But even if he had not said that he would be nice, which went completely against his nature, what difference would it make on Bulma yesterday compared to any other day? Why had this time set her off?

He stood silently for a while looking back and forth from Yamcha to Bulma and finally turned and left the room to go to his training, his mind heavy with his thoughts and her lie.

* * *

Later on Bulma was back in her room, back in the same spot she had been in the night before. Again she was watching the gravity room in the distance. Yamcha had stayed for a long time and tried to console her, but nothing he did had worked. If Bulma had been faking her fear the whole time, then eventually she would have given in to his pampering and would have pretended to be better after his confrontation with Vegeta. Unfortunately, she had had to face Vegeta with her lie, and that had greatly unsettled her. 

"It was very stupid of me," she mumbled to herself.

What was Vegeta thinking about all of it? Bulma had read in one of her girly magazines called Cosmo that men HATED being asked what they were thinking. Women are always assuming that men are thinking about something important when in fact they might be thinking of belly lint or something as equally profound. Nevertheless, Bulma wondered what Vegeta was thinking. He HAD to be thinking about her lie, or at least had thought about it once during the day. Belly lint did not seem to be a thing he would thing about. Besides, being falsely accused of rape was not an ordinary thing to have happen in anyone's day. For such a proud person, what had it all meant? Was Vegeta angry? Puzzled? Ready to leave the house forever? Bulma couldn't help wondering about it.

She left her place from the window and paced slowly around her room. She felt it was only right and fair to go talk with him. Bulma knew Vegeta hated talking, but he deserved an explanation. He probably expected one after something as huge as this.

Bulma grimaced when she thought about what she had done. She hated him! She didn't want him anywhere near her, and now to have to feel bad for him because of her conscience was something extraordinarily difficult to deal with. Bulma wanted to continue hating him, wanted to keep an emotional distance so she could get things done. That's how Vegeta himself operated. He never showed any emotion for any reason…well, except anger and pride. He never showed appreciation, or love, remorse, pain, nothing. For all anyone knew, Vegeta, a prince of a once large and proud race, was nothing more than a husk full of dark clouds and hate. Bulma never bought it for a second though.

Maybe it was her human emotions, or her way of trying to see good in everything, but Bulma would swear to Kami that somewhere in Vegeta's dark clouds was a heart that could love and feel the same as anyone else. She thought that maybe it was a psychological thing where being stoic was armor to hide and protect some fragile being…just that Vegeta's armor was exceptionally impenetrable. He HAD to have feelings, Bulma thought. He had had such a difficult life. At one time he was a prince, then out of no where he was thrown under someone else's rule when he had been used to ruling. He had become someone's servant and had to be careful of what he said or did. Vegeta was sent to slaughter billions of lives, never allowed to grieve for himself, or feel regret for his actions. Bulma could see where having such feelings on Frieza's ship could get one killed. It was no surprise, really, that Vegeta became what he became, a silent, but calculating person with no visible heart. Even so, one had to be in him.

Bulma suddenly saw Vegeta's face in front of hers and she started, thinking that maybe she was having some sort of vision of him. He looked so real…

"What!" the vision yelled at her.

She started again and looked around herself. Bulma was for some reason outside and standing on the steps to the gravity room. She had no idea how she had gotten there, but she must have wandered down while she was thinking.

"Oh! It's really you!"

"Of course it's really me. What do you want, anyway?" He eyed her suspiciously, his eyes wandering over the grounds, especially lingering on the security camera aimed at the gravity room. For once he was happy it was there. Normally he would feel it was a nuisance. He was after all a Saiyan, what would he ever need a security camera for when he can sense danger and can beat it to a pulp? But now, the camera would record everything they did, and if the next morning Bulma decided to say he did something he didn't, he would have his proof.

Bulma hadn't really intended to confront him yet. She had no idea what she wanted to say! What COULD she say? What she had done, was one of the most stupid things she had EVER done in her life. Who in their right mind would accuse an irritable guy of rape? Wouldn't that just make him crankier? Of course! "Why didn't I think of all this before?" Bulma wondered.

She continued to bite her lip and stare absent-mindedly at Vegeta, who stared angrily back at her. He stood arrogantly in the doorway to the gravity room, his arms folded over each other and leaning against the frame. He had no intention of going back into the gravity room for two reasons. The first being that he wanted to hear her explanation if she decided to tell him why she had accused him of such a ridiculous thing. The second was that there wasn't a security camera in the gravity room. If she tried to accuse him of rape again the next day, he would have no proof against her.

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, Vegeta decided to begin the conversation, though not in a pleasant way. "Why the hell would you do something like that? Did you think it was a good idea? Because I can assure you, woman, it wasn't. How dare you accuse me, a PRINCE of taking advantage of you. I wouldn't lower myself by having anything to do with you other than having you work for me. And by work, I mean fixing the junk that I break, making the useless crap that you do, and feeding me. Anything outside of that, I would never allow to happen. I have decency, woman! But you! You even insult yourself by accusing me of raping you because it was a lie. How did you even come up with such a thing? Is it wishful thinking?"

"No, I-"

"Was it because you wanted to make your 'boyfriend' jealous? He's been cheating on you again, hasn't he? I won't be used as some little toy that you want to play with. Those were serious accusations, and they lead to serious consequences."

Here Vegeta paused. He was seething. Bulma looked at him and saw that he was definitely having a fit, to say the least. Serious consequences…sounded like a threat.

"That idiot probably believes you," Vegeta resumed. "Now he'll go and get the rest of them and they'll all come over here on your side, trying to wipe out the bad seed you invited into your house. Isn't that right? Then I'll have to talk to them and kick the shit out of them all. That seriously cuts into my training schedule! And you know what? It will all be for a stupid lie that you told! What are your motives, woman?"

He was extremely irritated. He was just brushing over the surface of things. Of course it would cut into his training time if everyone came over to confront him, but that wasn't really a problem for him. He could take out all of them but one. Kakkarot. What he was more concerned about was her motives in all of this. He meant to get the answer out of her one way or another.

Bulma was taken aback by his outburst, but he had made her angry with a few of the points he made. "First of all, oh Prince of All Monkeys, I don't care if you're a prince or not! How dare I accuse you of rape? I'm sure that you have raped people before. You take what you want, right?"

Vegeta looked livid when she said that. "Don't you think I have more pride than that? Do you really think of all my wrongdoings, that that would be one of them?"

"Yes! You seem likely to have done something like that. What? Destroying solar systems was enough? That was the limit you would allow yourself to go to? I think not. If you can kill THAT many people, I'm sure you allowed your holiness to rape people too. Moving on, you are lucky that you live here. Who else would make you the 'junk' that you train with? If you went out into the wild or just went somewhere other than here, you would NEVER be able to get so much good training in." Vegeta opened his mouth to interrupt, but Bulma wouldn't have it and held up her hand to stop him. "And even if you don't think that the training you get right now is good, it's better than punching air. The gravity room challenges you. There are so many different combinations of attack programmed into it, I'm sure you haven't gone through all of them yet, plus there's more of a gravity pull in there which adds to the challenge. Tell me, where else are you going to find that?"

"Who cares! Answer the damn question, why did you lie?"

"Because I hate you!" she screamed.

"And? What is your point? I know that already."

"Wha…" She was dumbfounded. Bulma didn't expect a reply like that. Was she that obvious? She thought she had done a remarkable job in keeping her anger in check around him lately.

"You have not been looking at me in a pleasant way for a while. Before, you always tried your best to keep the peace, now I find you deliberately starting arguments with me, I suppose in order to get me to dislike you enough to leave the house. And now, correct me if I'm wrong, you made up this ridiculous lie in order to force me out. Either I will leave on my own because of my disgust with you, or I will be chased away by Kakkarot. Either way, as long as your lie holds, I will be driven away one way or another. Am I right?"

Bulma stood there, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, as she tried to find something suitable to say to all the truths that spilled from his lips. "Well…I…"

Vegeta stared at her intently, waiting to see if she would admit the truth or would continue lying. He almost wished that he had someone to bet on it with, though he thought that even Bulma didn't know what she would say to him.

Bulma took a deep breath and looked directly into Vegeta's black eyes. "Okay. You're right. But Vegeta! I told you last night that I wanted you to treat us better! I really meant it." She saw how powerful he was, and how easily he could kill everyone on the planet, let alone a solitary girl like her. As she thought of it, tears sprang to her eyes, which she tried to hold back. Anything of that sort would surely make her look weak to the Saiyan, and above all, he mustn't think she is weak.

"I wanted you to be nicer or more polite, but you always go out of your way to be a jerk. I was serious, Vegeta. I really wanted you to stop."

She drooped her head as she realized that she was losing her battle against her tears.

Vegeta had stood watching her, had seen the tears slowly flooding her eyes. He hated to admit it, but her plea had slightly moved him, and he didn't want to stand there watching her cry any more than he had to. He grabbed her by the arm and led her into the gravity room. This was it. He was done for. He had left the relative safety of the security camera. He opened the trap door hidden behind the control panel and let Bulma enter his more private rooms. It was like a small apartment that Dr. Brief had created for Vegeta's use, as he figured that Vegeta wanted little to do with the family. Unexpectedly, Vegeta chose to stay around the humans and opted for rooms inside the Capsule Corporation building, and only a few rooms away from Bulma, in fact. He only used the rooms in the gravity chamber when things became too annoying for him within the household.

He led Bulma to the bathroom, grabbed some toilet paper for her and watched as she blotted the area around her eyes. He noticed that she tried not to look at him out of shame, but that she stole a few hurried glances at him to see if he was witnessing her weakness.

Bulma felt so ashamed, but also awed that he actually let him into his rooms. As far as she knew, no one but Vegeta had been in them since it was made. She noted that it was remarkably clean for it being a bachelor pad of sorts. The small bed was against the wall and perfectly made, without one wrinkle in the sheets. Furnishing was sparse, which seemed to be Vegeta's way anyway, but Bulma felt that it could use a few decorations. She realized that she was drifting from the subject and looked directly at Vegeta, waiting for some sort of answer or reply to all that she had said. He seemed to know her well enough. Enough to know about all of her plotting, to see the difference in her attitude towards him lately.

"Well?"

"Well what, woman?" he growled.

"Well, what do you have to say? What else? What are we going to do about this?"

"If you will admit that it was a lie, I will let it go."

"I just did…"

"You know what I mean. I want you to say it in front of everyone. I want to be excused for the crime I didn't commit."

Bulma nodded. "Okay. You at least deserve that," she looked at him imploringly, "but I want you to treat us better, if I do."

"Fine. Consider it done. I won't start treating any of you better though, until you have confessed. Once you've done that, then you will notice a considerable change in my attitude. Are we agreed?"

"Yeah!" Bulma smiled happily.

* * *

Yeah, two years, huh? Heehee… Well, actually I thought I had posted this chapter and I went back here to look at it and I found that it wasn't posted. So, I'm posting it now! I had already started on the third chapter and I had a list of things that I had plotted for this story, but now I don't have that paper and I only vaguely remember them. So, I'm going to have to think about what I'm going to do now, and also try and look for that paper! So hopefully, I'll be back soon lol.

Lady Branwen


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own it:-P

Living with You

Chapter 3

Bulma was extremely happy that they had come to a truce. A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders. The panic that had settled there since she had seen Vegeta's face that morning after hearing about her lie was gone. She couldn't help but smile at Vegeta with such joy on her face. It must have rubbed off on Vegeta, as he gave her a half smile. Just a twitch at the corner of his mouth, barely showing his teeth, but Bulma knew that was his smile. Bulma tried not to stare too much at it. She was used to his smirk, but this was better and she didn't want him to become conscious of smiling and so go back to making his face unreadable.

She turned around, intending to go back to her room, but apparently she had turned around too fast and felt woozy. Vegeta noticed and was there in a flash, with one hand on her back and the other gripping her shoulder in an attempt to steady her.

"I'm okay," she tried to wave him away. "It must have been all the pressure that I put on myself to get you out of the house. I've been worried all day after seeing how pissed off you were this morning." She gave a little laugh in spite of herself. Even though they had reached a truce, she didn't feel quite up to reminding him of it so soon.

"You should have been. I'm very dangerous when I'm angry." He gave her a toothy grin, showing her his fangs on purpose. "Lay on the bed until you feel better. I don't want you falling down and having everyone accusing me of mistreating you or something." Again he thought of the security camera being outside instead of inside the gravity room.

She did as he said and lay on the bed while Vegeta pulled out the chair from the desk opposite the bed and sat next to her.

Was this some sort of trick on her part, he wondered. Maybe she had not quite finished with her devious plans… He heard Yamcha calling for Bulma around the grounds. "Great. The idiot is looking for you now. And if you walk out of here like a drunk woman, he's going to accuse me of molesting you."

Bulma smiled and tried to keep herself from giggling. "Ah yes, the Saiyan hearing. Actually, Vegeta, I feel fine now. I don't have to stay in the bed."

She stood up, wobbled, then plopped back down on the bed. She stayed put, deciding that it was better to stay, especially since she was somehow allowed into Vegeta's inner sanctum. She worried about what Yamcha might be thinking. He was probably thinking she had somehow gotten captured by Vegeta. She shook her head at herself, wondering why she had ever dared to go against Vegeta in such a way. Nevermind that she was headstrong young woman who had always been used to getting her way. She had made such a mess of things. Suddenly she heard Yamcha's voice calling for her from a distance. He seemed to be a bit panicky. Yep, he was definitely believing her story now. If she had not changed her mind, she would have been happy at her change in luck. Now Yamcha would automatically believe her without going to check the security cameras.

Vegeta continued to look at her, but then suddenly came up with the strangest idea. He didn't know why the idea had suddenly popped into his head, but he was going to investigate. He got up and sat next to Bulma on the bed. She looked at him in surprise, then in wariness.

"What are you up to?" she asked squinting her eyes and looking sidelong at him.

He didn't say anything, but looked into her eyes, trying to read what she would do once he investigated. He knew she would get mad, but he took the plunge anyway, surprising Bulma beyond belief.

"Vegeta!"

He had pulled her shirt up past her stomach and had put his hand on her stomach, with his fingers digging under her belt. She was too shocked to do much of anything but stare at him. His fingers didn't go very far under her belt, but stopped once his hand seemed to cover a good area of her stomach. He didn't seem very interested in what she thought that he was interested in. Instead, his hand was still upon her stomach and he sat quietly looking at the floor in deep concentration.

"That's disgusting."  
"What is?"

"You're pregnant. It's Yamcha's," he said with a look of extreme disgust on his face. He pulled way his hand and looked at it like it was crawling with germs from reading Yamcha's child's energy from Bulma's womb.

"How do you know…Hey! It's not disgusting! WHAT! Pregnant!" Bulma's brain was on overload. She couldn't believe what he had just said. "No. No way," she said in disbelief, determined that Vegeta was wrong. "You're just getting back at me for accusing you of rape."

Vegeta looked at her like she had gone insane. "Bulma, I would not lie to you about you being pregnant with Yamcha's child. It's a terrible thought. That poor kid." He looked down at her stomach, imagining what kind of father the kid would have. "Believe me, as much as I hate Kakarrot, I would much rather that that child be his rather than Yamcha's."

Bulma felt her stomach, trying to figure out how Vegeta could possibly know a thing like that just by touching her stomach. It didn't feel any different than it normally did. She looked at Vegeta, knowing that he wouldn't lie to her about something like this. Then again, maybe he would, but he seemed to be genuinely disturbed at the prospect of the baby being Yamcha's.

"Tell me you're kidding."

Vegeta snorted. "What's the matter? Don't you love that sleezeball?"

Bulma fidgeted uncomfortably. She had never planned on having a baby with Yamcha. She had never admitted it to herself before, but she knew that Yamcha wasn't right for her. She stayed with him because it was easy. He cheated on her, but she liked him and didn't want to ruin their friendship by dumping him, as crazy as it sounded. Of all times that she had to have an epiphany about her relationship with Yamcha, it just had to be now that she was pregnant with his child.

"Are you sure?" She asked it quietly, without the desperate tone that had been there a moment before. Now she sounded resigned to her fate.

"Yes," he answered bluntly.

Bulma sighed and pulled her blue hair away from her face.

"Vegeta…"

She looked at him, trying to read his face. His face was placid, not pulled into a sneer or any other of his normal looks. He was watching her with curiosity, seemingly because he had never been faced with this type of situation before. Now that she thought about it, he looked extremely handsome, surely a credit to his species. Of course, it helped that they weren't arguing at the moment. Bulma thought, if the two of them had more quiet moments like these, she would be very happy to be his girlfriend.

Her eyes widened slightly at this last thought and she quickly turned away, looking up at the hatch leading to the gravity room, excepting to see Yamcha there knowing exactly what she had just been thinking. She turned back to Vegeta, whose face looked the same, not at all surprised at the sudden look of fear on her face.

"Vegeta…do you think that…Well…Look, I know I did a really dumb thing to you. You didn't deserve it as much as I might like to think. And I apologize again for it, okay? I'm kind of hoping that you might…you know…keep the baby a secret for me? At least for a little while."

His face went unreadable. She panicked.

"Only for a little while! I don't know how to tell my parents, or Yamcha for that matter. I'll tell my parents first. They will take it better, or at least I can deal with them. Yamcha on the other hand, that will be more difficult."

She looked at her hands resting together on her lap. "I don't know how he is going to react. Whenever we've gone to the mall and have seen a baby, I would always coo over it, but he would just sort of stand aside and look at it like it was a monster of some sort. I don't think he's ready to be a father."

"And you are?" Vegeta asked in a neutral tone.

She looked up at him, unsure of what to say.

"I have no idea, Vegeta. But I'm definitely more ready for it than he is. Oh, Vegeta, you think you know Yamcha well enough, but you don't. He's not exactly father material, if you get my drift. I've broken up with him and taken him back so many times that I've lost count. He's never broken up with me, it's always me breaking it off with him. He's always cheating. I don't know why he has to. I'm beautiful, I'm rich. What else does he want? Do you know, when we were kids, he was scared to death of girls? He had such a difficult time talking to me for the longest time. But eventually, he got over it, and we were a good match. Then, he became more and more confident in himself. I suppose at first he just wanted to see if he could be able to talk to other women, then if he could kiss another woman, and so on until he finally cheated on me."

She didn't know why she was telling Vegeta any of this, but she seemed strangely comfortable telling him her troubles, like he would be able to take care of all of them with the snap of a finger. He still had not changed his looking. He seemed to take in all she said, though, as if he were interested in her history.

"Please don't tell anyone, Vegeta," she begged. "I'll tell everyone in my own time, and when I do, I won't mention in any way that you knew anything about it. You can have your peace and solitude from everyone else." She smiled, hoping that the last part would convince him, if nothing else would.

"Fine. It's not my business anyway." He stood up and walked towards the hatch. He looked up through the hole, cocking his ear and listening for Yamcha. "Are you feeling better? Are you able to walk now?"

"I think so…"

She stood up without the least bit of wobbling and was able to make it all the way to Vegeta's side without feeling faint.

"Good. He is on the other side of the grounds. He won't be able to see you right now, but he is heading around again. If you don't want him to see you, which I'm sure you don't," he looked at her meaningfully, "then I think you should leave now."

Bulma nodded and proceeded to climb the ladder. She was conscious of wearing a skirt and she wondered if perhaps Vegeta was looking up. When she was near the top, she turned and looked back down at him, only to find him smirking, clearly letting her know that he had been looking.

For some reason, she couldn't help but smirk back at him and he chuckled, then turned away, most likely to take a shower down in the hatch.

Bulma looked around the gravity room, fully making sure that Yamcha had not entered before she raised herself up and out of the hatch. She then stealthily made her way across the grounds toward the living quarters area of Capsule Corp. As she neared the sliding doors leading into the living room, she heard Yamcha's voice still calling for her as he was walking around. He was definitely close. Bulma dashed to the door and slipped inside, pulling the curtains tightly closed after her. From there, she quickly ran up the stairs to her bedroom, where she quickly disrobed and got into a soothing bubble bath, hoping it would be able to calm her and help her think.

Meanwhile, Yamcha had just turned the corner and was walking to the sliding doors that Bulma had just gone through.

"Where is she?" he wondered aloud.

The gravity room had been strangely quiet for a long time. Yamcha truly found it odd that Vegeta wouldn't be training, especially since it was in perfect working order. He saw Vegeta step out of the gravity room and shut the door behind him. As he walked toward the house, Vegeta looked directly at Yamcha, never breaking eye contact. Even as he passed, he did not break the eye contact, and bumped into Yamcha on purpose, nearly sending Yamcha stumbling into the rose bushes near the doors.

"What is with that guy," Yamcha thought.

To him, Vegeta was suspicious in every way. Yamcha could twist anything and everything that Vegeta did into something sinister. And from now on, he fully intended to do so. He had not been the greatest of boyfriends to Bulma, but now he would be. But even as he thought so, his spirits went down. For one, and most important to him, it would mean having to stay with only one girlfriend, and he did not want to do that at all. Secondly, he felt guilty that he knew he couldn't be completely faithful to Bulma.

"Then I guess that just means I have to be extra persistent in defending her from Vegeta," he vowed.

So, yeah, Yamcha doesn't want to take responsibility for his actions, I guess. Nice guy, huh?

Stay tuned!

Lady Branwen


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ/GT

Living With You

Chapter 4

Bulma woke up the next morning feeling groggy. She felt her stomach and rubbed it absently, thinking of the little life that was growing there. Her calculations told her that the baby would be less than two weeks old, since she hadn't fooled around with Yamcha in that long. She vaguely thought that that must be the reason why Yamcha cheated so often.

"What should I call you?" she wondered aloud. "I guess I should maybe wait to see if you are a boy or a girl yet. I hope Yamcha won't want to name you something dumb. Don't worry, I won't let him."

She could hear voices coming from downstairs. One she knew was Vegeta's deep voice, the other was Yamcha's raised in anger. Her mother's voice also drifted up. She was going around asking if either of them wanted something to eat. Everyone was always amazed at how her mother would get in between two arguing people and offer them food. It was obviously not a good time to ask, but Bulma knew that her mother did not feel like a good hostess if she didn't offer some food every five minutes. Bulma pulled the covers off of herself and crept to her door to eavesdrop. Unfortunately, she still couldn't hear, so she decided to get closer to the action.

"You better stay away from her! We've had enough of your crap to last a lifetime. I think it's about time that you left. You have to find somewhere else to train. We don't want you here, especially after what you have done to Bulma."

"Human, I had nothing to do with her and want nothing to do with her. She's your problem."

The weakling was starting to annoy Vegeta. Yamcha was already waiting for him when he had come down for breakfast and since then, Yamcha had followed him around badgering him. At first, he had played along, then Vegeta's patience started to run thin, and now he was nearly at his breaking point. He bared his fangs in an attempt to make Yamcha run away, as he had always done in the past. It never took much to make Yamcha flee, or make him want to flee, but this time Yamcha seemed to have grown some balls or was at least pretending to have grown some.

"Bulma is not a problem," Yamcha argued through clenched teeth. "She's smart, but she not smart about you apparently. She let you stay here against everyone else's opinion and advice, and you've been nothing but trouble ever since. Don't think that I'm not on to you, Vegeta. Unlike her, I don't think you've changed at all. Just because you landed on Earth, it doesn't mean that you've suddenly become an angel."

"That's right. I'm Saiyan and damn proud of it."

"I don't care what the hell you call yourself! You're a murderer and it's only a matter of time before you kill again."

"Keep talking, and I'll do it even sooner than you think."

Vegeta's eyes glinted under his lowered brows.

"Boy, boys, boys! Why don't you two settle down and I'll get you both some tea," Bulma's mom chimed in. "I'll even get you some cookies. I made them last night. They're the ones you like best, Vegeta. Chocolate chip!"

She touched Vegeta's arm in reassurance with a wide smile on her face. He looked down at her hand on his arm and sneered. Before either of them could make a reply, she grabbed Yamcha's elbow and pulled him over to a chair and went off in search of the cookies. Vegeta still stood standing and he glared down at the seated Yamcha. He was trying to understand why this particular act had set off Yamcha. What was it about the situation? Yamcha had never really seemed to care about Bulma very much…He cheated on her often and easily. Every time that he apologized to her for doing it, Vegeta witnessed that there wasn't very much remorse in his apology. It was almost as if he was just going through the motions again because he was tired of the bimbos and wanted a steady girlfriend for a while.

"Vegeta, I think you had better leave this house. Soon if not now. I don't want you anywhere near Bulma."

"And you think that a Saiyan prince will listen to a lowly human weakling like yourself?"

They both turned as they heard someone running down the stairs. Bulma appeared in the kitchen, out of breath, but determined. Vegeta vaguely thought that she should not be running the way she was as she could have fallen down the stairs. He pushed the thought away wondering why he should even care about what she did.

"Yamcha, he can't leave the house!"

He sat dumbfounded before regaining his composure. "What are you talking about! He raped you didn't he? Don't you want him out of the house? He could do it again!"

Bulma quickly looked over at Vegeta, who was staring at her intently. She remembered her promise to him that she would tell the truth about the incident, but she was having difficulty figuring out how to put it in just the right way so that Yamcha wouldn't be so mad at her.

"Well…he… he doesn't have any money…"

She looked over at Vegeta again and noted that he had absolutely no facial expression. What did it mean?

"So tell him to get a job! You want him to rape you again? What, did you like it?" Yamcha was thoroughly pissed off that she was trying to keep Vegeta in the house.

"Wha- Yamcha! Geez…no, but…" Bulma started. She was shocked and hurt that Yamcha could be so heartless about it. Though, she had no room to talk and she bet that if she did happen to have sex with Vegeta, he wouldn't be disappointment in bed…

"Don't insult her integrity, you stupid piece of-"

"Vegeta!" she scolded. She sighed. It was time to face the music. She looked at Vegeta yet again for some sort of support that she didn't deserve from him, but still he didn't move or show anything in his face, though she was grateful that he had shown at least a little support through trying to protect her honor…what little she had after a lie like the one she had told.

"Well, I…uh…" she looked at the ground. "I kind of lied to you."

Yamcha didn't get the point. "About what?"

It didn't enter in his mind for one moment that Vegeta DIDN'T rape her. He was convinced of it at this point.

"I lied about Vegeta raping me. I wanted you to kick him out of the house."

She looked up at Yamcha to see his reaction and was startled to see that Yamcha wasn't even looking at her. No glares. No disbelief that she would do something so dumb. Instead, he was glaring daggers at Vegeta.

"You put her up to this, didn't you?"

"I did not."

She knelt down in front of Yamcha. "No! Yamcha, I'm serious! He didn't do anything. I made it up! He was getting on my nerves way too much, I snapped and said that he raped me so that someone would get him out of the house! I would have done it myself, but obviously, I'm no where near as strong as him and I wouldn't be able to do it…Yamcha I was lying before, but I'm not lying now. I'm so sorry I did such a stupid thing and put you through all of this, but he did not rape me, and I want you to understand that. You don't have to fight him or anything. Vegeta and I have…we've already worked it all out, and we've agreed to be civil to each other, so there won't be anymore problems…Okay?"

"Hmph. I don't believe you. He's always up to something. It would be just like him to rape you, and then to threaten you to tell everyone it wasn't true. I saw how scared he made you when he found out that you had told on him."

"You don't know me, human. How do you know what would be 'just like me?'" Vegeta was getting madder and madder by the second.

"Well, yeah! He was pissed because I had lied about something like that," Bulma cut in. "Wouldn't you be mad, Yamcha? And I was scared because I angered Vegeta. Vegeta, the grumpy guy that no one goes near if they can help it. Vegeta, the guy that is easily angered. Vegeta, the Saiyan that can easily squish me for making up a serious lie about him."

"Yeah, Vegeta the killer, Vegeta the rapist. He was mad because you told on him. I won't let you hurt her anymore, Vegeta."

"Why don't you listen to your woman. She's finally telling you the truth. Your hate of me is clouding your senses." Vegeta found himself sharply reminded of his past because of Yamcha's words. He had been a killer, but he hadn't been specifically labeled as one by someone in a very long time. He had never raped anyone, though, and he was proud of it. It was a great disgrace on a Saiyan family if it was found out that one of their own had raped someone. Even though he was basically the last Saiyan, he did not give up tradition and he felt it was his duty to keep his people's values alive.

"Whatever. I know what you're up to," Yamcha sneered

Finally Yamcha looked at Bulma and saw tears welling in her eyes. His eyes softened and he reached out to hold her.

Bulma was near tears because he didn't believe her. She didn't know what else to say or do to get him to understand. She had spoken from the bottom of her heart. It was the most honest she had ever been in her life, and he didn't believe her.

"Why does everyone believe me when I lie, but not when I tell the truth?" she thought.

"Yamcha, you have to believe me! I'm not lying right now! He did not rape me! I made it up so that you would get mad at him. Nothing has to be done except you have to be mad at me for a while. Vegeta had nothing to do with my scheme and he has nothing to do with me apologizing to you right now, so you can just leave him alone and everything will go back to normal."

Okay, so Vegeta had had a little bit to do with the apology. He did agree to be a bit kinder if she agreed to tell the truth, but Bulma figured since people believed her lies, a little white lie wouldn't hurt in this case.

Vegeta was watching the scene unfold and was annoyed to find that the weakling did not believe a word that she had said. Yamcha was too wrapped up in his own schemes to protect her, rather than hearing the truth about the matter. Vegeta realized that Yamcha was too stupid to listen at this point, so he made a decision.

"Woman."

Bulma looked up at him for the fourth time. His gaze had softened slightly when he saw her tear-stained cheeks.

"Just forget about it," he said, and he turned and left the room.

3 Months Later:

"Heya, Bulma!" Krillin called across the grounds to Bulma, who was seated under a tree by the gravity room.

She smiled and waved to him to come over and sit by her.

She had not seen Krillin in a while. In fact, she had tended to avoid her friends as much as possible after finding out about the baby. She still had not told Yamcha about it, and he didn't even seem to notice her growing bump. He had taken to patrolling the grounds so often that her father thought it was only fair to pay Yamcha in order to compensate for all the work he missed while doing it. Vegeta had not changed his routine in the least. He still trained into the late hours and when they passed each other, his gaze would automatically fall to Bulma's waist, checking on her progress. True to his word, he had become more civil around her and her family, and especially at times when they were alone together, the stray chance meetings when Yamcha was not glued to Bulma's side. Bulma still found herself feeling guilty that everyone still thought that Vegeta had violated her, but no one, not even Goku had confronted him about it. Bulma wondered about it until she heard from Chichi that Yamcha had explicitly declared Vegeta as his own problem to take care of and he didn't want anyone else to interfere. Apparently, he had been so convincing with his argument that even Goku agreed to let him handle it on his own.

"How've you been?" Krillin asked as he finally made it over to her and sat down.

"Pretty good."

"We haven't seen you around lately, what's up?"

Strangely enough, Krillin was the one that Bulma always confided in. She didn't have any girlfriends to talk to. At least not any that she trusted. And Chichi was more of an acquaintance, not someone that she felt she could tell all her secrets to.

"Well, I've just been a little stressed out lately, that's all. I didn't want to ruin everyone's day if I were to visit them. I've been such a downer lately." She shrugged and smiled apologetically.

"Does it have anything to do with the, uh, rape? Did you ever get any counseling for that?"

Krillin looked worried for her, and Bulma winced a little as she realized all the trouble she had caused. She really hadn't thought every little thing out when she had hatched this scheme. She had not realized how far her lie would go and how it would affect everyone.

"Well, I'm going to be completely honest with you right now. He didn't do anything to me. I made it all up. I wanted Vegeta out of the house." She sighed heavily. "Yamcha doesn't believe me. It's strange that any lie I make up will be believed, but he didn't believe me when I told him the truth."

Krillin sucked his teeth and sat reading her face for a bit. After a while, he decided that she was telling him the truth and said, "Well, I'm glad that you're okay and that Vegeta didn't do anything to you." He wasn't sure why Bulma had decided to lie about it in the first place. Who would want to mess with Vegeta? But Bulma was always getting herself into and out of trouble, so he let the matter rest. "I was really worried about you. Goku wanted me to see how you were doing too."

"What does he think about all of this?" she asked. "I understand that Yamcha went and told all of you not to get involved, that he would handle all of this on his own, right?"

"Yeah," Krillin sighed. "I wasn't too happy about letting him do it. I mean, I'm no match for Vegeta. Yamcha's not either. Piccolo might be able to take him on, but only Goku really can for sure defeat him in a battle. Yamcha was just so serious though. I mean, he really took this personally. Man, I'd be mad too if someone raped my girlfriend."

"Well, yeah, of course you would be. It's not an easy thing to deal with. I bet he felt guilty for cheating on me so much, leaving me alone and prone to predators and everything. You think that's why he's trying so hard to make up for it?"

"Maybe," Krillin shrugged. Then the question he had been wondering about the most, "How has Vegeta been acting?"

Bulma looked at the humming gravity room nearby. There were many knocking noises coming from inside, a sure sign that Vegeta was getting a good work out with the robots, though she knew that every knock meant that another robot had been smashed into the wall and broken into tiny pieces. He was being wonderful to her, all things considered.

"He is surprisingly not very angry with me anymore, since I tried to tell the truth. I guess it's enough for him that I tried. It's surprising, actually, that he would settle for anything, especially something like this."

"Yeah. He's unpredictable sometimes. Glad to hear that he's not holding a grudge against you though. What about with Yamcha?"

"Oh, Yamcha's trying to pick on Vegeta any chance he gets! It's kind of funny. I mean, everyone knows that Vegeta could squish Yamcha like a little bug at any moment, but Yamcha has completely lost his mind," she waved her arms around as illustration, "and is always provoking him. Vegeta has been taking it surprisingly well. No deaths yet."

"Hehe, good for him, I guess."

Krillin reached across Bulma to grab one of the sandwiches at her side and accidentally bumped her stomach. Her abnormally large stomach. Bulma tensed slightly, then tried her best to look unconcerned.

"Bulma…why is your stomach so big?"

"Hmm?" she asked innocently as she shoved a sandwich into her mouth in order to buy her some time from having to answer any questions.

Krillin suddenly noticed that Bulma was in fact wearing baggy clothes: a sweatshirt and baggy blue jeans. It was decidedly unlike her, as she had always worn tight and revealing clothes. "Is there something you're not telling me?" He raised an eyebrow questioningly.  
"Geez, Krillin, I've just been getting a little fat, is that a crime? I mean, I've been staying here at home avoiding everybody, so what else am I going to do except eat and sit around? And obviously after doing that for so long, I'm going to get fat."

Krillin didn't seem convinced. Wouldn't she get a mushier stomach instead of a firmly round one if it was just overeating? Thankfully, the gravity room stopped and Vegeta walked out of it, heading to his lunch.

"Vegeta!" she called. "Come over here! I have some sandwiches!"

Krillin wasn't too thrilled at sharing a picnic with the grumpy Saiyan. Vegeta made his way over to them, only to stand looking down at them. Bulma grabbed the plate of sandwiches and held them up for Vegeta, who took one and looked at it in minute detail before deciding to eat it.

"Vegeta, I was just telling Krillin about how you didn't attack me."

She still felt guilty that the truth hadn't been declared to the world to exonerate Vegeta from a non-existent crime. She wanted to make sure that he knew she was telling people about his innocence.

"Good," was his only reply.

There was a pause in the conversation as Vegeta watched both Bulma and Krillin carefully while he ate his sandwich. He also kept track of Yamcha's energy signal approaching rapidly from behind.

"Hey, Vegeta," Krillin ventured, "how come you eat the way you do? I mean, you're neat when you eat. Goku makes all sorts of noises and messes when he eats and he shoves everything in his mouth, but you eat like a human."

"I'm a prince," was his gruff reply. He wasn't too thrilled at being compared with a human either.

"Oh…"

Yamcha had finally arrived and skidded to a stop at Vegeta's side.

"Get away from her," he threatened.  
"Yamcha, I gave him the sandwich," Bulma argued.

He ripped the remaining piece of the sandwich out of Vegeta's hand. Vegeta's eye twitched ominously and he slowly turned his head to glare at Yamcha, every Saiyan instinct begging him to rip off Yamcha's head. Bulma caught this look and jumped up.

"Um! Uh! Yamcha, why don't you take a walk with me?"

One time when she had been having one of the rare conversations with Vegeta, she had asked him the same question that Krillin had just asked. Vegeta had explained to her then that he had been raised to have better manners than the rest of the Saiyans. While most of them would pig out at meals, the nobility had always eaten with as much grace as their ravenous appetites would allow. Then after a few moments of silence, Vegeta had launched into a story about how serious eating was to Saiyans. In their past when they had still lived in the caves, they had had to hunt for their own food, or for food to be shared among the clans. Any food that a Saiyan received would be his own and if need be, they would fight to the death over it. If anyone tried to steal someone else's food, it was considered acceptable to kill that person. Vegeta explained that it was also not an uncommon thing to happen in his day and age, though most Saiyans had by that time learned not to mess with someone else's food. At this point in time, Bulma vividly recalled this story Vegeta had told her and realized that Vegeta was reacting exactly the way he should be…on his own planet though, but definitely not on Earth!

She grabbed Yamcha's arm and literally dragged him away from the scene, leaving Krillin alone to calm down Vegeta, something that Krillin was not looking forward to, as he had no clue what would calm the prince down.

"So, hehe," he started with a slight tremor in his voice. "A…Another sandwich? Hehe."

Look at that! I updated even earlier this time! Yay for me!

Lady Branwen


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: DBZ isn't mine

Living with You

Chapter 5

Bulma walked with Yamcha back across the grounds of Capsule Corp. She was relieved that he had yielded and came with her instead of fighting Vegeta. She knew that Yamcha wouldn't last five seconds in a fight against him since Vegeta was much stronger and better at tactics. Yamcha's fighting style, well, it was mostly for show. Sure, he could take out other humans quickly and easily if Yamcha really put his mind into it, but in reality, he was just like Hercule. Yamcha thrived on attention and didn't pay much attention to what he was actually doing. Vegeta on the other hand, avoided attention like the plague and he paid careful attention to the moves other fighters were making and he stored them in his head to block next time or to use the same move against them. He was a fighting machine that calculated and used various tactics and strength to win. She knew all this because of having to help her father build the gravity machine. She had the bright idea of tailoring it to Vegeta and his fighting style rather than making a generic one that could be used by just anyone, which of course made it more difficult to fix when Vegeta broke it…which was often. But in doing so, she learned how Vegeta thought while fighting and all his techniques and as she learned more and more about his fighting style, she realized just how superior Vegeta was to most of the other fighters in the Z Warriors.

"Yamcha, thanks for not fighting Vegeta. Honey, really, you should let this fight go. I've explained to you a thousand times that he didn't hurt me at all. It was a lie."

"I know," he replied gruffly.

"You do?" she asked in shock. She stopped walking beside him and stood looking at him suspiciously. He had never even acknowledged that she could possibly have lied about it, so why did he believe her now?

"Yeah. I believe you."

He was lying. He believed that Vegeta was definitely capable of raping, especially if his victim was as beautiful as Bulma. He wondered sometimes if maybe she were telling the truth about it not happening, but he just didn't even want to risk it. Yamcha only slightly believed that the event hadn't occurred. Vegeta had killed before and Yamcha believed that it was only a matter of time before he went on a killing spree. How could a simple gravity room satisfy such a monster's craving for bloodshed? Was it really likely that Vegeta would suddenly just stop going around and killing people? Yamcha thought that Vegeta had always wanted to kill, that it was a central part of his existence. It did not enter his mind that Vegeta had been forced to do so by a cold-hearted tyrant by the name of Frieza. He knew that Bulma believed that deep down Vegeta was good…very deep down, and that was why, he believed, Bulma was always defending the Saiyan. Actually, he was happy to have something to pick on Vegeta about. He wanted the excuse to try and run Vegeta out of town. Yamcha knew that Vegeta was better than him in just about every way and he didn't like the fact that Vegeta was always around to rub it in.

"Oh, really! Oh that's so wonderful, Yamcha!" Her eyes lit up when she heard that he believed her and she hugged him warmly. "I thought you would never get it through that thick skull of yours!"

Yamcha laughed half-heartedly as he looked over his shoulder where he saw Vegeta leaving to go inside the family area of Capsule Corp. Krillin, it seemed, had been spooked and had decided to go back home rather than stay and visit. It only served to make Yamcha madder at Vegeta. Bulma realized by the look on Yamcha's face that he did not really believe her. She cast her eyes down solemnly and walked back to his side to resume walking.

"What are you going to do now?

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, if you believe me, then I think you should stop bugging Vegeta so much. I think he's pretty near exploding in a rage over you." She leaned closer to Yamcha and whispered, "You have been a little annoying lately, you know."

"Psh. So what. He deserves it. The bastard," Yamcha muttered.

Bulma closed her eyes slowly and wondered what she should say next. All these months she had been trying to convince him that it was all a big lie and that he had to let it go. He had to be mad at her, not at Vegeta. She was the one who had lied after all. Unfortunately, nothing she said seemed to make any sort of difference to Yamcha. He was set on being mad at Vegeta, like it was his job or something. She felt a twitch in her stomach and furrowed her brow, but thought nothing of it. She felt her stomach through her sweatshirt, wondering if it was some sort of kick the baby was making, but nothing happened so she resumed her thoughts about Yamcha.

"Do you want to go out and eat?" she asked in her most pleasant voice.

"Nah."

"Why not?"

He didn't want to admit to her that he had been spying on Vegeta, waiting for anything that would point to Vegeta being a secret killer. Yamcha had officially become obsessed. He collected newspapers from all around the city and flipped through them looking for the latest murders. He set up a chart, mapping out how many occurred, where, what time, and how close each murder was to Capsule Corporation. All of them, much to his disappointment, were the normal run-of-the-mill murders. There were no truly heinous crimes that would point to Vegeta, the murderer of millions of lives on countless planets, being the culprit.

"Because I don't feel like going out," he lied.

"Oh."

"I really hate him," he gritted out. "He's always making everyone feel so inferior to him. Who does he think he is?"

"A prince?" she offered. She was really starting to get annoyed with Yamcha's attitude. It wasn't like Vegeta was this way because he wanted to be. There was a whole lifetime of abuse and slavery that made him this way.

"Huh, yeah of a dead race," he retorted sarcastically. "A prince of nothing. Who does he think he's fooling? I don't respect him. No one here has to respect him at all! He wants to go around catering to him out of fear. I hate him."

Yamcha continued on his tangent, but Bulma's mind was drawn elsewhere. She had just felt a more persistent pain in her belly and it was scaring her. Yamcha was too busy complaining to truly notice the panicked look on her face.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked absently when she gasped.

"N-nothing. What were you saying?" She desperately wanted to run and hide from Yamcha. She felt as if the world would end if he were to find out about his child, especially at a time like this when she might be losing it!

"Are you sure? Well, I was saying that there was this one time I remember him…"

The pains were getting stronger and Bulma didn't know what to do. She knew that it would definitely look bad if she suddenly had to admit that she was pregnant. In his state of mind, Yamcha would immediately conclude that Vegeta had in fact raped her and had made her pregnant. She didn't want to deal with that. In fact, she didn't feel like dealing with Yamcha at all. It annoyed her that he wasn't paying any attention to her pain and that he was off on some other fantasy world where he was better than Vegeta and could take him on. She was sick of it.

"Yamcha just shut up!" she screamed with clenched fists. The scream was partly out of anger, but mostly out of the pain that had suddenly surged through her. "Get out of here! I don't want to see you lurking anywhere on the premises again, do you hear me? I've had enough of your vendetta against Vegeta from some imaginary wrong he did to you. If you don't believe me, then fine, you can just leave. I think that three months of putting up with your crap has been quite enough punishment for my stupid lie, so now you can just take your stupid butt off of my property!"

He looked at her in surprise. "Where did this come from? Fine, if you want to go out for dinner, we can go…"

"Forget about the stupid dinner! Leave! NOW!"

She had not screamed at him like that in what seemed like forever. He had forgotten how angry Bulma could get and it immediately cowed him. For the past few months, Bulma had been docile and submissive to him and Yamcha had grown more and more dominant. He was not sure of what it was that he did that had suddenly set her off and switch back to her former self, but he decided that it was better to get away from her for a while.

"Good! Stay away from here. I don't ever want to see you here again. We're through!" Bulma yelled at his retreating form.

When Yamcha was a good distance away, Bulma fled back to the entrance to the family quarters. She didn't know what to do, but she only trusted one person in the house at the moment. First she looked in the kitchen, fully expecting to see Vegeta sitting at the table in a bad mood after the confrontation, but he wasn't there. She dashed to the living room to see if he was watching the television. It was rare, but sometimes he would watch the TV with her, but he wasn't there at the moment. She ran up the stairs to Vegeta's room and barged in. Bulma found him propped up against the headboard of his bed, with a book in his hand and a leg dangling off the side of his bed. He seemed greatly annoyed that someone would intrude into his sanctuary, but his anger quickly turned to concern when he saw how ragged Bulma looked.

"Veg…Vegeta," she huffed and puffed, "I think I'm losing it."

The second she thought the words, a knot formed in her throat and the second she said them, the tears spilled out of her eyes. She couldn't believe that her baby was going to die. She hoped and prayed that it was not the case. Maybe it was a normal thing for a new mother to go through, but she knew that it was not true. This was serious. Vegeta was caught completely off guard. The woman was usually so composed and only used tears to get what she wanted. This he knew was not the case. These were real tears and he didn't know how to handle them. What was more, he didn't know how to handle seeing the blood staining the crotch region of her jeans.

"Um…" he looked around his room in an effort to find some sort of inspiration to help him in the situation as he stood up and walked slowly toward her. He felt ashamed of himself for reacting the way he was at the sight of the blood. What would his parent's think of him if they saw him recoiling?

"I need you to take me someplace else. I don't want a hospital, it would be all over the news that the heiress to the Capsule Corporation fortune miscarried her first baby. I don't want to stay here because my parents would find out and Yamcha might come back soon and see. I don't want him to know, Vegeta."

She collapsed in tears on his chest and he held her up awkwardly with one of his arms.

"Um… I guess I could take you someplace."

Without another thought, he lifted her and flew out his opened window away from the city. He could hear Yamcha now, telling anyone who would listen that Vegeta had just kidnapped his girlfriend. He frowned at the thought. Why would he want to kidnap someone who cried, lied, and screamed as much as Bulma did? He made sure he had a tight grasp on Bulma. Remarkably, she did not seemed to be too bothered at flying so high up in the sky, rather she was understandably more concerned with the growing pains coming from inside of her. Vegeta watched the ground, seeing small towns pass by underneath them. Finally, after what seemed to take hours in so desperate a situation, he found the area that he was looking for and started to slowly descend.

Bulma thought she was seeing things. They were now over a desert region and were fast approaching a cave in one of the red mountains in the desert.

"What are we doing here?" she yelled up at Vegeta.

"You said you wanted to go somewhere else."

They touched down and Vegeta let her go only after making sure that she could stand on her own.

Bulma walked near the edge of the cliff and looked down at the desert spread out before her. It went on for miles and miles around, with hardly any vegetation. She felt helpless and alone in this place and wondered why, of all places, did Vegeta bring her here? He stood next to her, keeping a careful eye on her in case she collapsed. He didn't know what to expect from this situation. He knew that this place was no place for her to give birth or miscarry a child. He brought her here more for his sake than for hers. It was his home away from Capsule Corp, or at least that was how he thought of it.

"This desert region reminds me of my home planet," he finally answered her question. "Long before my time, my people had shared a planet with another race of beings."

Bulma looked at him with interest. It was rare that Vegeta ever offered any information on his past and she always listened in rapt attention. Even now with all her fear for the baby, she found herself captivated with his words. Anything that shed some light on Vegeta's history was something she wanted to know and understand.

"The others lived in what you would consider the more inhabitable regions of the planet, the parts with the trees and large amounts of water. We were left with only the desert regions to make our homes in. It was a red planet, with red earth and mountains, much like this desert. We lived in caves in the mountains, both naturally made and ones we dug out for ourselves."

He stopped talking, but Bulma continued to stare at him, though he didn't seem to really notice for once. Any other time, he would yell at her for staring, but for now, he seemed to be caught up in his memories.

"I come here when I'm sick of dealing with you humans. This is where I train when I don't use your gravity chamber."

"Because it feels more like home to you?" she asked.

He looked sideways at her, but chose not to answer. "Are the pains getting worse? I keep medical supplies here incase I over train and need to heal myself. Do you need anything?"

"No," she shook her head. "Not yet…I don't think so."

She saw that Vegeta was looking at her pants. She knew it wasn't because he thought they were cute. Sometimes he looked at her when she wore some of her more skimpy clothes. She knew that he liked her, but now there was a frown on his face and she was too scared to look down and see for herself exactly what was making him frown. She felt that if she didn't see it, then it wasn't happening and everything would be okay.

"Are you sure that you would rather not go to some sort of healer? A discreet one? One that you can trust? You'll have to at some point…you know…to check…to make sure."

She had never seen Vegeta at a loss for words. He was always shooting off his big mouth, but this really seemed to get to him. To her, it made the situation more real and she struggled to keep her tears back.

"I…I think it's too late for all that," she replied.

He looked directly into her eyes. He had seen that look many times on the faces of people about to be killed, who witnessed their loved ones being slaughtered, and on the face of the soldiers doing the killing who were taking it all in and realizing the carnage they were creating. The look of loss and of pain. He didn't want to tell her that he agreed that it was too late. He knew of nothing else to do, so he sat down against the rocky wall and motioned for her to do the same. She looked from side to side, as if looking to see who else was there that he was motioning to, then finally walked over to him and sat down as close to him as she dared. He wasn't big on people sitting extremely close together, but she tried once more now and found that he was going to allow her to lean against him. She wrapped her arms around his left arm and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"My mother once told me that I was the most evil baby on the planet," he said with a smile.

"What?" Bulma said with a laugh. It seemed like such a random comment for him to make.

"She said that I had constantly kicked her stomach. I never gave her a break. And she compared giving birth to me to being like extreme torture without death. Apparently I had continued kicking or something while I was coming out…"

Bulma stared at him with her mouth hanging open. She was shocked that he could be so mean to his mother before she realized that he had been a baby and didn't know what he was doing.

"But that's basically normal for a Saiyan birth," he continued. "We're very…energetic right from the beginning." He looked at her and grinned.

She shook her head. "Yeah…remind me never to have a baby with you. I don't want to go through what your mom did. And knowing you, you'd make a child that was exactly like you."

"Well yes, if I could, I would."

Bulma had the fleeting feeling that maybe she was supposed to have his baby. She figured it probably wouldn't be so bad…the baby would have her genes too after all.

"The pains?"

"I don't feel them anymore."

He nodded and furrowed his brow. He looked at her tentatively, then reached out to pull up her shirt, as he had done before. Again he put his hand just far enough under the waistband of her jeans to cover her stomach with his hand. She waited with baited breath to hear what he found. She didn't understand how he was doing it, though she had an idea it had something to do with searching for the baby's energy, but she knew that he would know the answer to her burning question: was the baby alive? He looked at her stomach without really seeing it. Vegeta was concentrating all of his energies on finding some sort of energy signal from the little life that was supposed to be growing in her stomach. His face was grim when he finally looked back up at her.

"It's gone."

Aw…but really, who didn't see that coming? Lol. No worries, though! There's another baby, right? A cute little one with big blue eyes and purple hair? Yeah, that cutie! But of course, he'll not be there next chappie, but he'll be here soon!

Lady Branwen


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing! cries

Living with You

Chapter 6

"Gone?" She could only breath the word out, she couldn't even say it. No matter how low her spirits had been moments ago, Bulma had had some sort of hope that had still been living deep inside of her. It was strong and unyielding when the rest of her had believed her child was dead. Now the feeling was gone and she felt empty and completely alone. For anything else, having Vegeta there with her and having him looking so concerned and ill at ease with the entire situation would have made her feel better. She wouldn't have felt alone at the very least. But now she felt alone in the wide world.

He was cautious. Bulma could be unpredictable at times, and this was one of them. He had no idea what to expect from her. He wouldn't know what to expect from any woman in this situation. For now, she seemed hurt but calm, but that could change at any moment. Would she fly into a rage if he said yes? Would she collapse into a puddle of tears? Anger and rage he felt he could deal with, but not her tears. Vegeta hated tears from anyone. The bad part would be that he would feel obligated to comfort her. In any other situation that she might cry in front of him, but he knew he could walk away and someone else would be there to comfort her. Hell, even if no one were there, he would still leave. But not now. This was a big deal, and Bulma was losing her inner strength to her loss, he could tell. There was no way that he could turn his back on her here. He could feel her feelings of abandonment and loss, her pain, her anger at the world for being so cruel.

It was moments before he realized that he was even getting these feelings from her. It wasn't so much that they were radiating off of her, but that her inner turmoil was reaching him. He knew what it meant, and it scared him more than the blood on her pants, more than anything else that had ever happened to him. He would gladly have met with and been forced into Frieza's rule again if he could get out of this situation he now found himself in. Never in his life had he ever believed it would happen to him. With all the other Saiyans dead, and in Goku's case stupid, he never felt that this sacred Saiyan event would happen to him

"Vegeta," Bulma broke into his thoughts. He looked over at her and met her eyes. He realized again that she hadn't really reacted to her loss.

"What am I going to do?"

Her eyes were searching and pleading. This wasn't Bulma wheedling for an answer she already knew or wanted to hear. This was Bulma begging to be told what to do for once. She couldn't think for herself this time and it scared her. Vegeta was always so good at giving orders, she knew that she could depend on him to tell her what to do. And she also believed that the answers he gave would be the right ones, no matter what she thought. He always thought about things logically and he saw things in the long term, rather than in the short term. Because of this, he would be able to know how Yamcha would react if he were to be told about the baby and what consequences there would be in her circle of family and friends for not telling any of them about it.

"Please, Vegeta, what should I do?" Her voice cracked ominously and Vegeta shifted uncomfortably knowing that she was so close to losing her self control.

He thought ahead for her and saw the many consequences. For the moment, he couldn't seem to get past his own problem, as he knew it would be a key figure in her future if he was right about what he thought he was feeling. But, the truth was, he didn't truly understand Yamcha. Her parents, he felt that she could tell them and everything would be okay with them. Her friends, she could tell and they would be sympathetic to her. But Yamcha, Vegeta couldn't figure out what he would do. Actually, he had to admit that all he had ever done was observe Yamcha to see how stupid he was and how pathetic his fighting style was. He had never really digested any information about him other than that. If he had to say anything, it was that in recent weeks, especially since the whole lying incident, Yamcha had become vastly more protective of Bulma, and he had also become bolder. It was something new for Yamcha, and Vegeta didn't know if it would last, or if the idiot would deflate once he heard the news of his child's death.

"I think you can tell people about it," he finally said. "Your family, your friends. Yamcha… I'm not sure about that."

"Great…he was the one I was asking about you know?" She sounded angry and sarcastic.

"You know him better than I do. It's all interconnected, woman. If you tell your family and friends and leave him out, it's going to get to him sooner or later, and he'll be mad if you aren't the one to tell him. If you think he'll take it all right, then by all means, tell him. Otherwise, I would suggest not telling anyone about it. I would say to tell your parents, but your mother doesn't seem like she can keep anything to herself. Maybe only tell your father. He's always too busy with other matters to go around blabbing your secret to everyone anyway."

Bulma drew up her knees to her chest and sat biting the nail of her thumb. "If you were in my situation, what would you do?"

Vegeta sighed. "I wouldn't tell anyone. It's not their business."

She changed tactics. "If you were in Yamcha's place…would you want to know about it?"

"Yes. But I wouldn't go around torturing you about losing it. I'm thinking that Yamcha will be upset that you didn't tell him about it from the very beginning. And that he won't believe that it's not mine," he looked at her meaningfully. "And also that he is going to not leave you alone about it."

"I should have told him right from the beginning," she whispered. Her head was in her hands.

Vegeta did not reply. Instead, he stood up and roamed around the cave looking for one of the capsules he kept here. Finally after a long search, he found it and popped it open. A dresser popped out and he pulled out several drawers, taking out a new shirt and pants for her to wear.

"Do you want a set of underwear as well?"

He didn't sound very sympathetic. He had just blurted it out, but Bulma didn't care. "I don't care," was all she said.

He pulled out a pair of boxers and set the clothes next to her. When she didn't move, he realized that it might be because she wanted privacy, so he made to leave the cave to get in a little training before he had to fly her back to her home.

"Vegeta," she said stopping him.

He grunted in question.

"I need something to wash myself with."

He stepped back a little in a startled fashion and looked around the cave for something for her to use. Obviously she wouldn't want to just change clothes and still be covered with blood, how could he be so stupid? He didn't think he had anything for her to use. When he came out here to train, he never really had anything but a few changes of clothes for when he ruined the ones he was wearing, and a refrigerator stocked with food. For water, he flew to a nearby waterfall. It was there that he also showered, if he showered at all on those trips. He did happen to find some bowls that he could fill with water for her use though.

"Look, I can go and get you some water. I don't keep it here. I'll give you a shirt or something to scrub with, but I'll have to go and get the water. It's a few miles away, I won't be long."

She barely nodded. He blasted off into the sky.

When he returned, he found Bulma curled into a fetal position against the rock wall, as if it would hold her and bring her comfort. Vegeta stood looking at her with the bowls in his hands before setting them down.

4 Hours Later:

Bulma woke up with her whole body aching from her ordeal and from sleeping on such a tough surface. She looked around and realized that it was dark out, but that Vegeta had built a fire inside the cave to keep her warm. He had also uncapsuled the refrigerator in case she was hungry. He had thought of everything, but where was Vegeta himself? She stood up and walked with aching joints to the edge to look out of the cave. The night sky was beautiful from this vantage point. There were no lights to block out the radiance of the stars and of the galaxy from view. No lights except the ones Vegeta was creating. She could see a dark form darting around in the air. He threw up balls of energy and rushed up to meet them before kicking them into a mountain that was a great distance away. He did it so many times, but Bulma saw that his heart wasn't in it. It seemed like this was more of a game or a sport to him, rather than any kind of serious training.

She turned away smiling, believing she had witnessed another piece of the Saiyan culture in action. Perhaps it actually was a game? A game from a planet and people long dead except for in the heart and mind of its prince? Bulma made it over to the refrigerator and got out a few cans, barely glancing at them to see what exactly it was that she was going to eat. Before she got back to the fire, she happened to glance at lump a few feet from her. They were clothes…her clothes. The ones she had just been wearing when she had miscarried. Her mouth gaped and the cans fell to the floor and rolled away from her. Bulma looked down at herself and touched her stomach and legs frantically before she realized she was in the new clothes Vegeta had gotten out for her.

"Did I change?" she wondered. "I don't remember changing…"

Vegeta had heard the cans drop and had come back to see how she was doing. He picked up the cans that were dangerously close to falling over the edge of the cave and looked for Bulma in the semi-darkness. He worried that she might have collapsed or something, but instead he found her standing, slowly turning to look at him with suspicion in her eyes.

"How…" she started.

"How what?"

"My clothes…"

He lifted his head up in recognition and struggled to keep in a laugh. He smirked at her before walking past her to exchange the canned peas, canned beets, and canned tuna for a combination of food that was more palatable.

"If I would have done anything bad to you, I'm sure you would have woken up."

"So what did you do to me, huh?" she shot back accusingly.

"Really, need we go through this again? I have more pride than to do something like that." He turned back toward her to find her still glaring at him. "I stripped you, washed you, and then reclothed you with the new clothes I had given you to wear. Pardon me for thinking that you didn't want to sleep in your own blood out here in the desert and have it be caked onto you for not washing it off promptly."

"You could have woken me up," she said half defiantly. She realized that he had done her a favor, however inappropriate she felt she had to view it. Actually, she was more thankful than anything. Maybe it was better this way? So that she wouldn't have to face the blood and death?

He caught on to her true feelings and again thought about his own dilemma.

"Does oatmeal sound better to you?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really care what I eat, Vegeta."

"Yes, I sort of figured that out," he said as he looked over his shoulder at the peas, tuna, and beets.

He sat next to the fire and started to make the oatmeal for the two of them.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," Bulma stated after a while. She had sat down and had been watching him as he cooked. At first she only looked at him to have something to look at, but slowly her mind had drifted, as it always did, and she noticed that his brow was often furrowed and he frowned most of the time he was cooking, though she doubted it was because of the food.

He looked up at her, only momentarily stopping his stirring of the oatmeal.

"Should I tell her?" he wondered. "This is important to us both. She should know, I suppose. Maybe we can break it off early if she wishes. Hell, I want to break it off early. I don't want to go through all of that crap."

"Vegeta?" Bulma cocked her head to the side, wondering what it was that was affecting Vegeta so much.

He hesitated before answering. He wasn't sure he wanted to do anything, but he felt that it was his duty. If Bulma had been another Saiyan, she would have known anyway, he wouldn't have to tell her about it. "If something very important to your life in the future could be told to you, would you want to know? Now think of this in your scientist frame of mind. Think of unbalancing the universe or something." He was really stretching it now. Nothing he told her would unbalance the universe, but he desperately didn't want to tell her. He wanted to keep it from her and try to push it away on his own. Duty, however, told him to tell her.

"Well, I guess if it would be that bad, then however curious I am, I would have to say that I don't want to know."

She looked at him questioningly. This was extremely uncharacteristic for him to be beating about the bush for anything. He was usually blunt and forceful, but she detected a hint of nervousness in him, more in his composure than in his voice.

He sighed, knowing that the problem wasn't as bad as all that. "What if it is something that you don't have much of a choice about? In order to stop it, you would have to go through a lot of torturous pain?"

She looked at him with wide eyes, but didn't say anything. Was this about his past? Was he opening up to her?

He sighed again, but this time more impatiently. "If you wanted to dictate your own life, not have nature control it for you? If you didn't want to deal with someone, would you want to not know of their connection to you and therefore not have to worry about their fate being tied to yours?"

"Vegeta, eons go by faster than you get to your point."

He growled with lowered brows. "Fine," he replied through gritted teeth. "But give me your answer. Would you want to know?"

"Yes! Yes, I would, now get to the point."

Well, I thought I would end it there, seems like a good place to stop, right? Haha. Well, to me anyway. Sorry this is a shorter chapter, but you know. Cliffhanger. Yeah.

Lady Branwen


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: What? Who said I own DBZ? They're crazy! Why would I live here if I do? Needless to say, I don't own it.

Living with You

Chapter 7

"What is it, Vegeta? Is it about the baby? Are you trying to tell me something about your past? Who are we talking about here?" She waved her arms around wildly, as if they would make some sort of sense of the situation.

"About us," he replied bluntly. The softer side of him that he had been showing towards her lately had retreated and the Vegeta she had first met had returned.

Her arms stopped waving as his look had unsettled her, and she looked directly at him trying to figure out what it was that he was trying to say. "Us? What 'us' are you talking about? There _is_ no us. Do you mean a companionable us? A fate of the world us? Us as in the Z Warriors and the lone scientist they are friends with?"

"Us as in we are falling in 'love,'" he said with a sneer and disgust plainly etched in his features.

She huffed, "Love? Oh you must be kidding, Vegeta." The look on his face told her he plainly wasn't. "Okay, so maybe you aren't." She coughed. "Well, go on, tell me what you mean then."

So this was what had turned him back into stone. He looked so stern at the moment. Bulma for one did not believe it at all, but she was positive that Vegeta believed it. And she knew that when something really bothered Vegeta, _really_ bothered him, he would shut down, just as he was doing now. Could it possibly be true?

He took a deep breath and served the oatmeal to her and took the rest of what was in the pan for himself. He took a few spoonfuls to stall for time before answering. He didn't quite know how to put it all. It was not easy. To think, he, Vegeta the Prince of All Saiyans, was going through this process with a human. A weak, stupid, insignificant human. He shook his head in annoyance with the entire situation.

"We are bonding. I don't know if you have experienced it yet, though I suspect you have. You've been overly observant of my moods lately. It's only the very first stages of the process. And I've been getting your moods…"

She appeared not to understand what he was talking about one bit.

"Saiyans start the mating process-"

"Whoa…" The spoon was almost to her lips, but it had stopped as soon as she heard the word 'mating.' She wasn't sure that she wanted to hear about Saiyan mating rituals, but her scientist mind was intrigued at this point and she couldn't have kept herself from listening.

"We start the mating process by forming a bond with our intended mate. We don't go out and pick the person we want, the bond just forms without our knowing about it for the most part until we start getting some of the side effects, like knowing the other person's mood or hearing their thoughts. Eventually it progresses to getting the other person's memories, being able to sense when they are in danger, their mood, communicate through their minds, and much more. It's usually with someone we are around or know, not necessarily that we have loving or lustful feelings for them to begin with. The bond grows stronger and stronger in both of the Saiyans and eventually, they have the need to physically mate. Now, it doesn't always happen the first time they do, but usually on their first time, they end up marking each other. The mark bonds them for life and lets other Saiyans know that that person is off limits. They cannot fool around with others after they have been marked or else the one they had sex with and even they are game to be killed by their mate. After being marked, and doing the marking, both Saiyans become very protective as they see the other as 'theirs' and will attack anyone who tries to take away what is theirs.

"Some bonds are stronger than others, depending on the compatibility between them. The weakest bonded mates can actually break off the bond if they have to or if they get too sick of each other. Those are considered to be flukes. It's not often that their instincts draw them to the wrong person. The regular bonds do last a lifetime, but after one dies, the other will be upset for a while, but will eventually find that they can move on and may then find someone else to mate with if they so choose, or of their body tells them to. The other rare bond is the one that is actually the most binding. In it, both of the Saiyans are in love and their bond becomes stronger than any normal bond. It unites them in body, mind, and soul. When one dies in this sort of bond, the other dies shortly after and they are said to join each other in the afterlife."

He became quiet for a moment and Bulma found herself deep in thought. If it were all true, what kind of bond were they forming? What would it be like to be completely bound to someone like Vegeta? His memories…she had always known that he had lived through some terrible things, he had killed so many people. Were all their faces etched into his mind's eye forever? Were all of his memories full of blood and pain? Were there any good memories left inside of him? She wondered if maybe she could continue to bring out the good side of him, the side that was as kind as he was capable of being. Would he eventually become good and never be troubled by his past? That would be impossible…someday he would have to answer for his crimes…hadn't he already? Bulma wondered where he had gone when he was killed by Frieza on Planet Namek…the answer was obvious, but she didn't want to think it. She wanted to hear from Vegeta.

"We are forming a bond, Bulma. I can feel it," he broke in. "I often know your feelings and I know that I'm not far away from hearing your thoughts and being able to read your mind."

"But," she stuttered. The same spoonful of oatmeal still hadn't gotten into her mouth yet. "Why would I be getting your feelings? I'm not a Saiyan. Why is this happening if I'm not a Saiyan?"

"My bond that is forming with you is probably giving you some part of it, maybe it's strong enough for the both of us. Maybe my body understands that I'm one of two left alive and that there is a need for me to procreate, even if it is pointless. The Saiyan race will never be fully reborn. If I mate with you, it will only prolong the process of the death of my people. Even if Kakarott and I had started to bond and mate, there still would be no hope for Saiyans to be reborn. The blood of my people will be mixed with inferiors only to dwindle into the human population, becoming nothing but a minuscule dot in the blood of my descendents."

Bulma stared at Vegeta. He was sarcastic, but he seemed defeated. She wondered if this was the first time he had ever truly thought it all out. It couldn't be. He must have thought that his race would die with him until he had meet Goku.

"Wait, wait, wait," she said and she waved her hands again in front of her. "You and Goku could mate? As in, have babies?"

Still sarcastic, Vegeta looked up at her with just a hint of laughter in his eye and said, "Yeah."

Bulma opened and closed her mouth a few times then asked, "How?"

"There were more males on my planet than women. Over a long period of time in our history, the males developed the ability to reproduce. With less pain, I might add." Her look remained blank, so he continued, "It starts out the same way as if you are gay on this planet, but Saiyan males have organs that can handle carrying a baby. When the baby is ready to be born, there is a cut that forms below the carrier's belly button and the baby can be pulled out."

"What about the women?"

"The same as you," he said with a sigh, obviously not interested in the subject any longer.

Bulma put down her spoon, after figuring that she wasn't going to be eating anytime soon. Vegeta uncharacteristically played with a rock to pass the uncomfortable silence, also choosing not to finish eating. Bulma continued to wonder about Vegeta. This was a huge deal. She was still denying all of it, trying to make a case for herself that could somehow explain it all as a joke.

"Don't you humans bond?" he asked. "Doesn't your mother always tell your father that all of you should spend more bonding time together?"

He wondered why Bulma wasn't getting it. He often saw Earth people holding hands and courting. Wasn't courting here the same as bonding on his planet? He knew that humans were able to tell what others were thinking sometimes, especially if they knew each other well. He had always assumed that it was because of some sort of bond.

"Well, yeah, but we don't bond like that! We bond in a family way, like we learn more about each other and its purpose is to remind us why we love each other, what it was that we like about this or that particular person. We don't bond until we can read each others minds…"

"But you do bond, and maybe there is a part of humans that is capable of bonding in this way. Maybe I have activated it in you."

She sat dumbfounded. This was the last thing she had expected to hear from him. At the beginning of this, when he had looked like he had something important to say, she had been half expecting him to tell her that he had found a tiny fetus inside her jeans. She expected him to tell her that that it was still living, and all his hesitation was because he wasn't sure if he should tell her or not because it would most likely die. That obviously wasn't the case. All the talk about being mates seemed ridiculous to her on the surface, but deep down, she knew that it was true. She felt a part of herself fighting against it; she wanted to pick who she loved, not have it dictated to her by some weird alien from out of space and his weird bonding rituals. Another part said "Aha! So that's why I've started having these feelings about him. That's why I was happy to know he looked up my skirt. I'm so glad I'm going to marry such a hot stud!"

After a few minutes of silence, Vegeta muttered more to himself than to her, "Of course there is always the chance this is a lighter type of bond." Bulma looked at him and he continued, "Saiyans formed 'bonds' with their fellow soldiers or clansmen when they fought together for a length of time. It helped them to become more efficient and allowed them to work together and coordinate their moves while fighting. Maybe the bond that is forming between us is something more like that. One that doesn't involve love on any level…"

Bulma covered her mouth in an attempt to hide a giggle. She couldn't believe how much Vegeta was trying to get out of it. One minute he seemed resigned to his fate, the next he was trying to think of ways to get out of it, then he was coming up with different types of bonds that did not necessarily mean he had to fall in love or fully commit himself to anyone. She knew that it would be a drastic change for him, having to care about someone other than himself. She knew that for the longest time, he only took care of himself and did not feel the need to take care of anyone or anything. To him, helping Earthlings fight off bad guys was just a way to pass the time, not something he was devoted to.

Suddenly she thought of a lighter subject, one she had only thought of a little bit before. "Vegeta, why did you have to stick you hand down my pants for look for the baby? Can't you track energy with your mind?" She looked sternly at him in what she hoped was an intimidating look.

He looked up at her and a ghost of a smile appeared on his face before he dropped his head back down to gaze at the flames before him. "You're right. I just wanted to get in your pants."

Her mouth dropped open and she looked around as if someone else were there to go and slap him for her. Meanwhile, he had cautiously looked up to see what her reaction was. He laughed and slapped his hands together at the shocked look she had plastered on her face. He then settled down after a bit and said, "No, I lied. It's different for a baby. Since yours was so small, with barely any energy to read from, I had to do it that way. Especially to be sure about it."

There was another few moments of silence as each drifted off into their own thoughts. Vegeta thought about her dead child and wondered at his reaction to it right from the beginning. He thought he had been so disgusted with the thought of Yamcha producing a child, but was it really that? Could it have been his bond making him jealous? Was it his bond reacting to the unwelcome advance on his intended mate?

"Vegeta, you said something about torturous pain?" Bulma finally asked as her mind finally digested everything he had said to her.

"What?"

"You said, 'In order to stop it, you would have to go through a lot of torturous pain.' I'm assuming that you were talking about this bond thing. Is that true? If I didn't want to go through with it, it would be painful?"

He nodded. With as much pain as she had just gone through, he felt that it would be cruel to tell her he didn't want to mate with her. A part of him did want to mate, though. His body and soul did, but his mind was screaming about the intrusion into his life. He had gotten used to the fact that he was the last Saiyan to remember anything about the Saiyan culture, and that he would be alone and he would not have to or be able to mate with anyone. Being able to mate with a human came as a great shock to him.

"Once a bond has started, the couple has to really concentrate on separating from each other in body, mind, and soul. It is difficult and it can only be done when both are serious about it. Then each has to rip off their bond mark from their neck and they are forever scarred." Serious about it? He knew that she would really have to make him hate her before he would be as serious as he needed to be in order to break off the bond. He knew attempting to break it off would be doomed from the start.

"What about before then? Before they mark each other?"

He shook his head. "I've never heard about a couple breaking the bond before then. The urge to satisfy their instincts and bond is always too great. The instincts are usually right anyway."

Bulma chewed her lip as she looked at him. Was this really happening to her? Did this mean that there was really no choice? There was no way she would break off the bonding at this point. Bulma was shocked, but she felt like she had been sapped of any strength she had ever had inside of her. She didn't want to go through more physical or emotional pain for a long time. She had to say that she wasn't too upset that Vegeta would be her mate, and that surprised her, since only a few months ago she had created a huge lie because she was so desperate to get rid of him. Sure, she could definitely see where there would be problems being in a relationship with Vegeta. She loved to shop, but he hated it. She always wanted to go out and have fun, but he never wanted to and instead went out of his way to not go places. All Vegeta wanted to do was eat, sleep, and train all the time. Bulma knew those things were superficial and that there were more serious problems with a 'them.' She imagined what her future with him would be like, and saw herself being run ragged by his orders to bring him food and fix his gravity room. She shook her head.

"Are you sure about all of this?" she asked. The future didn't look so good for her if her imagination was right. "You're not wrong about it, like you're just not getting weird feelings and thinking that their mine? Maybe you were having sympathy pains or something…"

"Oh shut up," he muttered irritably.

He stood up and paced back and forth inside the cave. Even moving around wasn't helping to make some of his warring emotions go away, so he decided to head outside. Bulma watched as he blasted off and sped away into the night. She might have been worried, but she knew that Vegeta wouldn't just leave her there in a desert, even if he had reverted back to his old self. As it was, she wasn't too concerned and she knew if for some reason he didn't come back (highly unlikely) then she would be able to make something from some of the stuff within the cave to make a beacon. The refrigerator would be really helpful for that.

You guys, I was thinking ahead for some of the later chapters and I realized that Goku is on the planet…he's not supposed to be…so yeah, I guess this is AU, hehe. And in later chapters will also still be slightly AU. I did not realize that!

Lady Branwen


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ

Living with You

Chapter 8

Vegeta hadn't gone very far away from the cave. He didn't want to leave anyway. All he wanted was to have some time to himself to think about everything. Bulma was asking so many questions, bring up so many things that he himself hadn't even thought about yet. It was too much. He didn't want to talk, he didn't want to think, he just wanted to be left alone. The bond wouldn't allow him to leave and he knew it. He found that he couldn't go more than a mile away from her. Was it always going to be like this?

He had flown to the mountain opposite of the one Bulma was in and he sat down on one of its cliffs just in line with a view of the cave. His superior eyesight allowed him to see Bulma up close and clearly while she would never be able to see him from that distance. Vegeta watched her as she sat by the fire and ate her oatmeal, then paced around the cave. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly she thought about this situation. Her feelings were reaching him and they were upset, confused and shocked, with a bit of relief and a hint of happiness. The last puzzled him. Wouldn't she be angry at the intrusion into her life? He was. Wouldn't she be angry because she wouldn't be able to choose for herself who she wanted to be with for the rest of her life? Yamcha was a jerk, but she stayed with him for so long. What was she going to do about Yamcha?

What indeed. He sighed and looked down at his legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. He knew that he couldn't stop the process. He would have to wait until they were completely mated before he could back out of it. Soon he would be trying to keep her to himself and he would just go into a primitive sort of state and lose control over the part of his mind that didn't want it all to happen. Sure, he would be sane for the most part and he could go about his business, but soon he wouldn't let Yamcha anywhere near Bulma and any male that came near her would be like an enemy to Vegeta. He rubbed his face dejectedly then let his head rest in his hands.

She would have to give Yamcha up. Maybe that was what she was happy about. She couldn't possibly like Yamcha, and Vegeta often got the feeling that Bulma was only with Yamcha to pass the time. It struck him as odd because she was beautiful for being a human and she could get any male on the planet that she wanted. Why stay so long with Yamcha? Why allow him to stay around after he had cheated on her so many times? Maybe Bulma was ready for a change, and was glad that the change would be to a real man…to Vegeta.

* * *

Bulma paced inside the cave. The thoughts in her head were moving too fast for her to really know and understand what she was thinking about at any given moment. She knew that this was a serious issue. This would change her life forever. Her mind kept going to her thought of being run ragged by Vegeta's demands. She thought that he was the hottest male on the planet and when he showed his softer side, he was one of the most interesting people to be around. But she also knew that at any given time, Vegeta could turn into the angriest person in the world, and it would be for no reason. It had happened a few times already and it usually happened when he had been thinking for a long length of time. Something he thought about would get him angry and he turned his anger on anyone that came near him, but especially on himself. At those times, he became violent and retreated into himself. Sometimes it seemed like he wanted to punish himself. Bulma had ideas that what he had originally thought about was either something terrible from his past, or the fact that Goku was still stronger than him. Would he continue to be that way? Mating with her probably wasn't going to stop him from thinking about his past. Nothing would change except that they would be bound together for eternity. Bulma's heart dropped and she became depressed.

He wouldn't change for her. He wouldn't change for anyone unless he decided to change for himself. If they had a child together, he wouldn't be the best father. Would he be worse than what Yamcha would have been? Would his anger get the better of him sometimes? Would he hit their child or even Bulma? She knew that she had to ask these things of him. She had never been hit by a man in her life and she wasn't about to start allowing that to happen. But Vegeta didn't seem to be that way; he had been completely pissed off that she had accused him of rape. He had said that he had more pride than to do that. Did he have more pride than to hit a woman too? She had seen him punching people…he had killed people…where exactly was the line that he drew of what was acceptable and not acceptable to him? Was there some Saiyan custom that said that the females should be kept in line and the males could hit them in order to do so? There was something to think about…would she be held under Saiyan law and custom while she was mated, or would she still be allowed to be human and still be her own person? Would Vegeta feel obligated to treat her the way Saiyan women were treated? Maybe the Saiyan women weren't treated badly at all, maybe they were revered.

"Ugh!" she yelled into the cave. Her cry echoed back to her. "I can't keep thinking about this right now."

She went to the dresser that Vegeta had gotten her new clothes out of and she drew out a clump of clothes and piled them onto the floor. She then laid her head down on top of them and tried her best to go to sleep, only succeeding after a few silent hours.

* * *

"Are you ready?" a deep voice asked her.

Bulma opened her eyes and saw two black ones right in front of her face. Vegeta was very close to her. If he lowered himself down any farther, he would be kissing her…

"For what?" The question came out softly, barely audible.

"To go."

He pulled away from her and stood up, only to look back down at her over his crossed arms.

She turned to the side, cursing the hard ground and saw that it was day again. She had spent an entire night away from Capsule Corp. Yamcha had probably called every official government agency to look for her by now. Bulma sighed and sat up.

Vegeta, satisfied that she was finally going to get up, moved around the cave putting things away and preparing himself for the flight back.

All of her thoughts came back to her. "Wait…I want to talk some more. I have a lot of questions for you."

Vegeta's face grew grim and he turned away from her, muttering curses under his breath. Then he turned back and grated, "Haven't you asked enough questions already? That's all you did yesterday."

Bulma's worries returned as well. He was getting into one of those moods.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't understand this thing that going to happen and I'd like to know a little more about it before it happens."

"There's nothing you can do about it." He glared daggers at her. He really didn't want to talk about it now. Ever.

"Well, maybe not, but I'd still like to know more about it."

He sat himself heavily on the floor and crossed his arms, all while still glaring at her for asking him anything more about the subject.

"How are you going to treat me? Like shit? Like Yamcha does? Will I be worth anything to you other than being 'yours?' I want to be treated with respect from now on. I've been wanting to break things off with Yamcha for a long time now. And if I'm going to be forced to do that now, and be forced into a relationship with you, I want you to treat me better than Yamcha has treated me. How is it going to be?"

He stared at her a few moments before answering. It was pointless to answer really. If he said that he would hit her, she still wouldn't have a choice. Their bodies were making the decision for them. "Nothing will change. I'm not going to change for you. I'll treat you the same way as I always have. Perhaps better since I promised that I would be kinder to all of you if you told the truth, which you did. I'm bound to my promise. I gave my word."

"You're not going to start hitting me if I don't do exactly what you say all the time?"

Vegeta looked sharply at her. "Has Yamcha done that to you?" His blood boiled in anger at the worthless human.

"No. But I don't know what Saiyan customs are. Maybe you guys want your women kept in line. You know that no one keeps _me_ in line. Maybe you would feel you have to. I don't want that."

"We do not do that."

This was like a spar between the two of them. Both were talking in cold tones. Vegeta was mad that she had started with her questions all over again and mad that he felt that he had to answer them. She in turn was mad because he seemed so stubborn and unfeeling about her ignorance of his mating rituals. How could she possibly know all about it?

"Are you going to let me be myself?"

"If you allow me to be myself as well. I'm not going to change." He refused to do so.

"Kids?" She swallowed. This wasn't the best time for her to be thinking of another child, so soon after she had lost this first one. Would she even be able to have another?

"Perhaps. I'm not thrilled about it. It's inevitable, however." He knew what her next question would be. "And yes, I will raise it as a Saiyan. It will train. I will make it spar with me. I will not have it be a weakling and a disgrace to my family, dead though they may be. Even though I will not subject you to Saiyan customs, my child will know of his or her people. They will know the history. They will speak the language. They will become strong and be a credit to our race."

Bulma sucked her teeth. "In other words, you are going to be brutal."

"If need be."

She could feel her anger rising already, as if their child was already born and she was fighting for its safety. "You will not hurt it. Our kid, no matter what sort of blood is in its veins, will not be subjected to any kind of abuse by you. I forbid it." Her eyes flashed at him. "He or she will be able to be human. They don't have to be Saiyan, and they don't have to be human. They can be what they want to be, or what their blood makes them."

Vegeta bared his teeth at her before she found herself moving quickly over the desert. He had moved so fast and had taken her out of the cave back towards her home without her being immediately aware. Obviously it was the end of the discussion.

* * *

Yamcha paced to and fro in the Briefs' kitchen. He had not contacted any government agencies; he had not even raised his energy as a signal to make the other Z Warriors rush to help him. Yamcha was determined to handle this all on his own.

Dr. Briefs did not seem too concerned with the situation. He had decided for himself a long time ago that Vegeta, while in his worst moods was not one to cross, he was relatively harmless otherwise, since he never acted on his threats. Of course, he had to admit that his daughter always seemed to be the one that set off the stubborn prince. Nevertheless, he had a feeling that Vegeta would not harm her. Besides, it would be uncharacteristic for Vegeta to kidnap Bulma. He usually tried to avoid her and her nagging, so why would he do something like kidnap her? Strangely enough, he felt that if there were danger, Bulma would be in good hands with Vegeta.

Bunny, Bulma's mother, meanwhile was completely upset. Her natural charm and need to be a good hostess flew out the window. Yamcha had started on his tangent of how he believed that Vegeta had kidnapped Bulma to have his way with her, to steal the family fortune, to bring Earth to its knees and bow down to him. After Yamcha had been going on with this conversation for so long, he had finally broken through to Bunny and now she was frightened for her only daughter being left alone with Vegeta, the man she once had said she admired for his dedication to training. Until Yamcha's talk, she had always thought the best of Vegeta, no matter how bad a mood he was in, but know she found that she could think of only the worst things. Vegeta had never done anything to harm anyone, though he certainly threatened to, but she had always thought of him as a naughty child, that he was just being a boy and that was all that his temper tantrums were. Yamcha's beliefs certainly scared her, whether they were true or not.

From far off, Yamcha detected Vegeta's energy signal rapidly approaching the compound. He grit his teeth and turned in the direction of the energy.

"Finally."

Dr. Briefs looked up from his chair, and Bunny jumped up from her place on the couch where she had been sobbing into several tissues.

Yamcha was already outside on the lawn and eagerly looking as far as he could into the distance to catch his first glimpse of Vegeta and Bulma. After what felt like an eternity, he could finally make out a small form approaching, though it was still too distant to tell if Bulma was there with Vegeta. A short wait rewarded Yamcha with the sight of Bulma. While she herself did not seem too put out over being held precariously in one of Vegeta's arms, Yamcha became irate over it. "How dare that Saiyan only hold onto her with one arm? She could fall!" Yamcha thought wildly.

In no time, Vegeta landed and put Bulma back on the ground. She chose to ignore him completely and she brushed away imaginary dust from her clothes. Her attire was not lost on Yamcha, who immediately recognized the clothes as men's clothes, specifically clothes that belonged to Vegeta. He stared dumbfounded at the two of them, his concern over Bulma's safety temporarily leaving his mind. Anger quickly flowed through him at the thought that Bulma would submit to Vegeta in any way, allowing Vegeta to do things to her that only he as her boyfriend should have the right to do. Bulma had had an affair with another man? With Vegeta? Yamcha conveniently forgot about his many past affairs. And if it had not happened that way, he was angered over the thought of Vegeta raping her again. Yamcha did not even consider the fact that nothing had happened; her attire told a story of its own. How many women that he had spent a night with had walked out of their hotel room wearing some part of Yamcha's clothes? It was usually his dress shirt.

Yamcha's suspicions were not lost on Vegeta. He smirked in triumph. Not for actually conquering Bulma, but because Yamcha was angry and anytime that Yamcha was upset was a source of amusement for the prince. Yamcha scowled at him in response.

Bulma looked back and forth between the two, practically seeing sparks flashing back and forth between them. When she noticed her parents beaming at her return, she rushed over and gave them both hugs, reassuring them that she was okay and that Vegeta had been very kind to her.

"Kind?" Yamcha asked in derision. "He can't be kind. It's not in him. What happened?"

Yamcha tried to look menacing, but Bulma found it truly comical and it was all she could do to keep herself from laughing out loud at him. She quickly wondered if it was she who really thought so or if she were getting this sense of humor from Vegeta. He was obviously amused. Yamcha trying to be macho was like seeing a Chihuahua trying to be a Great Dane. Bulma felt a little pity for Yamcha. She had never thought things like this before, but she felt that in the past her eyes had not been open. This was the real Yamcha acting tough and intimidating to impress everyone, especially himself. Even with mirth filling her, her sense of pride overrode it all and she became angered at Yamcha.

"Didn't I tell you that I never wanted to see you again?"

"You say that all the time." Yamcha waved his hands and he looked annoyed.

"Yeah, well I meant it this time. Get away from my house."

"Oh, Bulma dear," her mother interjected, "that's not nice to treat poor Yamcha that way! He was here all night worrying about you!"

Bulma turned and looked at her mother over her shoulder in disbelief.

"Mama, he wants to get back at Vegeta for Vegeta being stronger than him. It's the same exact thing as Vegeta being mad at Goku for Goku being stronger than him."

"What!" Yamcha jumped back a few feet. "No way! What is your problem, why are you saying that I have something in common with Vegeta?"

Vegeta didn't like the comparison either by the look on his face.

"Well, it's the truth. Yamcha we're over. Thank you for being worried about me, but Vegeta and I had a talk and-"

"Psh, yeah…talk. Yeah right. Why are you wearing his clothes?"

"Oh my…" Bunny gasped as she finally noticed that her daughter was wearing the clothes that she herself had bought for Vegeta when he had first arrived on Earth.

Bulma found herself blushing slightly and she wished that Vegeta would decide to answer instead of forcing her to talk. Vegeta did not stir however, so Bulma found herself desperately trying to think of an excuse. Finally, a plan formed in her head, a plan that was probably just as hare-brained as her last plan, but she ran with it.

"Vegeta and I went somewhere else so that we could strike a deal." She really hoped that Vegeta would play along. "I really meant it when I told you to leave, and so to insure that, I've made a deal with Vegeta that if he ever sees you around here again, he can drag your sorry butt into the gravity room and make you _try _to train with him at 400x gravity."

"In exchange for what? Sex? I guess he got an advance on his first payment, huh?"

Bulma's mouth dropped open at the insult. Vegeta'a blood boiled and there was a whistling in his ear. "She did no such thing," he found himself saying. It was in a calm tone, a remarkable feat for the state he was in.

"What about those clothes then? Whores end up wearing their client's clothes at some point."

Years of resentment flooded to the surface and Bulma was about to retort that he would know about those kinds of things when she was interrupted.

"Now see here, young man." It was Dr. Briefs. Usually he was quiet and amiable, but he refused to stand by as someone mocked his daughter and tried to drag her good name through the mud. He himself was reminded of Yamcha's philandering ways and thought that if Bulma had started a relationship with Vegeta to finally get back at Yamcha, good for her. "My daughter is a respectable young woman whom you have always chosen to ignore. You have turned to other women more times than any of us can count. You are a hypocrite, young man. Personally, I think it is a splendid idea. Mr. Vegeta, as the owner of this house, this compound, and this entire vicinity, I fully agree with whatever measures you have to take in order to keep Yamcha off of our property…except for killing, of course. You may proceed with whatever plan you have worked out with our Bulma. Good day, Yamcha."

With that, he turned and ushered his wife back into the house, so that whatever actions Vegeta chose to take would not have to be seen by his wife.

"Good…I'm glad that's settled," Vegeta responded quietly…too quietly. Deathly, was more like the actual tone. Vegeta had just started in a movement to attack Yamcha, but had managed to hold himself in check when Dr. Briefs had interrupted the conversation. This was, however, a bad sign. He was becoming way too protective of Bulma. It must mean the bond is real.

Bulma kept her composure and continued to look back and forth from Vegeta to Yamcha. She could feel the anger emanating from Vegeta and it seemed to fill up the entire compound, suffusing the air with his anger at his intended mate being treated the way she was by Yamcha. She was set on allowing Vegeta to do whatever he wanted, within reason. Yamcha looked frightened; he was back to his old self. All of his bandit instincts told him that a predator was staring him down. Time seemed to stand still. All sounds stopped, as if all the animals in the world knew that Vegeta was near his breaking point, near the edge of allowing himself to tear apart the man in front of him.

* * *

Yikes, scary…

Lady Branwen


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ!

Living with You

Chapter 9

Vegeta flexed his hand menacingly and Yamcha took an almost imperceptible step backwards. Yamcha knew this would not end well. He wildly wondered what in the world he had been thinking of when he had started making all those rude comments…why in the world he had EVER picked on Vegeta. He vaguely remembered that he was trying to protect Bulma, that she was being too care-free around Vegeta and if she couldn't or wouldn't protect herself, then he would do it for her. No matter how many times she had told him to leave her alone, to quit bugging her, he felt a strong attachment to her. She had been his steady girlfriend for a long time now. Even though their relationship had been rocky most of the time, he now wanted nothing more than to keep her safe. All the other women were forgotten and he had no cruel words for her, only a strong need to guard what had been his. He felt stupid and small at the moment, though. He was no match for Vegeta. They all knew it. Vegeta was second only to Goku and all the rest of the warriors except for Piccolo were far behind in strength when compared to Goku. He tried desperately to put on a straight face, tried to appear confidant.

"Man…what have I gotten myself into? Why did I ever open my big mouth? All I wanted is for Bulma to be safe. I wanted to start all over again…I wanted to get things right between us this time. I guess I…blew it," he thought.

Vegeta, meanwhile, was wondering how best to deal with Yamcha. Kakkarot would definitely be on his case for the rest of his life if he killed Yamcha. He so wanted to do that. It would end his Yamcha problem forever. Perhaps the woman would not want him to, though? He could beat Yamcha severely, but he was sure that Bulma would not approve of the kind of beating he had in mind, even if she were truly angry at the weakling. Was she serious about allowing Vegeta to take Yamcha into the gravity room to make him "train?"

"Okay, look," Bulma said. "Yamcha, if you just agree to get off of the grounds and go back home, we'll let you go this one time. I don't EVER want to see you here again. Vegeta has permission to do what he sees fit. He tells me," she looked over at Vegeta meaningfully, though he didn't see her since he was staring Yamcha down, "that he has perfected some new moves and he wants to test them out. I don't particularly feel like creating some new droids for him to destroy, so if you don't leave, YOU will be the new droid."

It sounded harsh, Bulma knew. She couldn't believe what was coming out of her own mouth. Never in a million years would she have believed that she was capable of threatening Yamcha in that way. Threatening to leave him forever, yes. Threatening to call the cops on him, yes. But not this. In truth, she didn't really mean any of it…she just wanted to scare Yamcha enough to get him to leave. Vegeta was really helping her by looking so menacing, but she had a feeling that he didn't see all this as simply wanting Yamcha off the property. The look on his face looked like a "game face." He looked way too into this plot of hers…

Yamcha looked at Bulma. His face was slightly slack and had lost all the machoness he was trying to infuse in it to appear unconcerned about fighting Vegeta. Had she actually just said that to him? "What has he done to you?" His voice was soft in wonderment.

"What do you mean?"

"You're making threats now? You've never made threats like that to one of your friends before, Bulma. I think you've been hanging around him for too long. Did you…did you two really spend the night together…intimately?"

"What's it to you," Vegeta broke in. "Worried that she likes having a man rather than a boy?"

"Yamcha" Bulma raised her voice to stop the new argument before it happened. "Yamcha, I did not sleep with Vegeta. We went away so that we couldn't be interrupted so that we could work out the details of this partnership to keep you off of my property. And all of it will be null and void if you go away and don't come back. You are allowed here if, and only if, there is some sort of world shattering catastrophe that requires everyone to come here. Okay? So if you leave now, Vegeta won't get to do anything to you. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Don't get into any sort of contract with him, Bulma! He'll twist it to his advantage and he'll never leave you alone! He's a criminal! A murderer! Don't let him trick you! He'll blackmail you or make you his slave or something."

"He's not tricking me, Yamcha," she said in an exasperated tone. "This was my idea."

"But he'll twist it all!"

"Yamcha! I'm leaving you a way out! Go!"

"Or don't…" Vegeta took a step forward and cracked his knuckles for even more effect.

Yamcha raised and lowered his energy frantically. He definitely needed backup. He found that he couldn't back down for two reasons. One: he didn't want to look like a wuss. Two: he found that he couldn't move at all due to fright.

"What are you doing? Calling your friends over? Don't think you can beat me?" Vegeta taunted with an evil grin. He immediately felt several strong energies on their way to the compound. "His friends are coming," he said to Bulma. This was her little game. It was time for her to end it if she didn't want her boyfriend to get hurt. Yamcha had gradually worn away Vegeta's already short fuse. He was dangerously near his breaking point.

Bulma thought wildly of what to do now that she had started this whole fight. She didn't want either of them to get in trouble. "I wish Vegeta would just punch him just a little bit to scare Yamcha. I think that I could defend him for it if he did punch Yamcha."

Vegeta looked at Bulma out of the corner of his eye. He had heard her thought. It was yet another sign of their growing bond. It was actually a symptom of the last stage of bonding. They were progressing much too rapidly for his taste. He disregarded all of his thoughts and chose to act upon what Bulma had thought. He moved forward faster than either Yamcha or Bulma could see and planted a well-placed fist in the middle of Yamcha's stomach with much less force than he would have liked to.

Yamcha doubled over in pain and fell to his knees on the soft grass beneath him. Bulma rushed forward and planted herself in front of Vegeta before he got any more ideas to harm Yamcha.

"She warned you," Vegeta said. "Are you going to leave yet or am I going to have to hurt you again? I say don't leave. I would just love to give you the beating you deserve."

"I think you you're enjoying this more than you should be," Bulma said as she turned to look at him.

She looked up as she spotted Goku's orange outfit floating down. She noticed several other figures approaching in the sky as well.

"What's going on here?" Goku asked. He was staring at Vegeta, clearly knowing that this was all Vegeta's fault.

"Goku, it's not Vegeta's fault. Just wait until everyone else gets here and I'll explain."

Goku kept looking at Vegeta with crossed arms for a bit before moving to help Yamcha stand up again. When the rest of the warriors landed, Bulma explained to them about what was going on.

"It's simple, really," she said. "I just want Yamcha to leave me alone. He wouldn't, so I have enlisted Vegeta, the only person around here that can help me, to keep Yamcha away from here. None of the security guards can beat Yamcha in a fight, and none of them can fly to catch him if he decides to fly to the roof to get in. I needed someone who can fly and who can fight in order to keep Yamcha away from me. I knew that none of you would agree to kick Yamcha's butt, so Vegeta was my choice. And he agreed. That's it. Yamcha wouldn't leave and I've been asking him to do so for about ten minutes now and he didn't leave, so Vegeta punched Yamcha to encourage him to go."

"Is Yamcha stalking you or something?" Gohan asked.

"It's not the way that he sees it, but yes."

"But I am trying to protect you!" Yamcha yelled. "Vegeta is not the type of person you should let into your house! He kills people for a living! He raped you!"

Bulma made a noise between a grunt and a roar and stamped her foot. "Haven't we gone over this already? Isn't this the reason that I want you out of my life! HE DID NOT RAPE ME! I've told you so many times! Do you even listen to me? Everyone else gets it, even Goku. What I did was stupid and reprehensible. I should be punished in some way for the huge and ugly lie that I told. I was wrong, but it is over now and you need to get it through your head that Vegeta didn't do anything to me and since I've apologized to him for having told the lie, he has forgiven me and he isn't going to hurt me. I realize that you wanted to protect me when I made that up, and it was a very noble thing to do, but it's done. It's over. I was never in any danger, it was a lie that I deserve to be punished for, and apparently I am because YOU ARE STILL HERE!"

"He does not belong here! Tell him to go back to his own planet and leave us alone."

Vegeta stepped forward again instinctively. On Frieza's ship, he had always been taunted about the death of his people. In truth, Frieza destroyed many of the planets his warriors were taken from unless the planet happened to have something that his empire didn't currently have. Many of the soldiers had no real home to go back to, but in some way, they got over it and learned to live in the new life they found themselves in. Vegeta had never gotten over his destroyed planet, a planet full of Saiyans to whom he was attached to telepathically by way of his royal blood. He would always step forward, ready for a fight with anyone who dared bring that subject up. "I don't have a planet to go back to, you idiot. It was destroyed along with all of my people." Vegeta said this harshly, but Bulma and Goku could detect a hint of sadness in his voice that Vegeta would be mortified to know was heard.

"So what? Just go to a different planet then!"

"Yamcha." Goku's tone was sharp. "I realize that you're not in the best of moods right now, but think about what you're saying. Vegeta's people…my people, are gone forever. That's not something you just dismiss like that."

"You're on HIS side?"

"I don't need anyone to defend me, especially you, Kakkarot!"

"Okay okay! Everyone shut up!" Bulma yelled. "Yamcha. Get. Off. My. Property. Now. I want you gone in one minute. I'm not going to let you stand here harassing me anymore!"

Bulma wanted this whole situation to end. Was Yamcha ever going to leave her alone? She looked desperately to Goku, who seemed to understand that she didn't want Yamcha to get hurt, and that she and Vegeta were not really in any sort of contract. He couldn't imagine why Vegeta was going along with one of her schemes, though. Usually he complained about Bulma's nagging and screeching voice. Maybe they did have a contract?

"Come on, Yamcha," Goku said. "Vegeta isn't going to hurt Bulma. He never has, and hopefully never will. Maybe Bulma will let you come back once you both have calmed down and won't be yelling at each other all the time." He grabbed Yamcha's elbow and before Yamcha could complain, Goku dragged him into the air and flew towards Yamcha's apartment, saying his farewells to the other fighters over his shoulder.

* * *

It had now been four months since that day. Yamcha had ignored Bulma's repeated warnings and Vegeta's numerous attempts on his life, and continued to show up unexpectedly at Capsule Corp. These days, however, he hid his concern that was very much still inside of him and instead opted to become a friend to Bulma again. He felt that if that was going to be the only way that Bulma would allow him back into her life, then that's what he would have to settle for. He wasn't about to leave her alone with a rampaging maniac like Vegeta.

Bulma grudgingly allowed Yamcha to visit. She had been glad when he had left Capsule Corp with Goku that day and she thought that her problems were going to be over, at least for a while anyway. Every time she saw Yamcha, she remembered his child that she was going to give birth to, the one that never had a chance to be born. She wanted Yamcha to leave her alone completely. She didn't want him around and didn't want to be tempted to tell him about all of it before she knew what to say. It was very difficult for her to think about it and she didn't need Yamcha's pacing and staring when she wanted to just sit and think. Allowing him to visit wasn't helping her find quiet time.

Vegeta had left her alone for the most part. Things didn't change. He kept on training, though he seemed to be spending more and more time inside the house lately. She could hear his thoughts sometimes, and a few times during the night she had the strangest dreams about some sort of spaceship with weird creatures passing her in the halls as she walked through them. Sometimes there would be sinister scenes that she couldn't understand. Sometimes she would find herself on strange planets with people covered in blood running past her, afraid for their lives. She had the sickening feeling that these were Vegeta's memories. A few times she woke up to yelling. For the first few moments she would think it was the screams from the people in the dream, but would suddenly realize that it was Vegeta having a nightmare. Every time that it happened, she would run to his room and would open up the door, fully prepared to wake him. He never woke up when she opened the door. In the past, he would always be alert and if he had been sleeping, he would be awake in an instant and would jump out of the bed, ready to attack her before he realized who she was and where he was. When he had his nightmares, he would stay in his dreams and roll around uneasily. It always made her nervous to see this vulnerable side of Vegeta. This Vegeta was scared and was not aware of intruders in his bedroom. It was unsettling to Bulma who knew Vegeta as the strong, uncompromising warrior.

"Bulma," her mother broke in, "Yamcha's here to see you!"

Bulma groaned into her hands. As soon as her mother had left the room, she jumped up and ran through the French doors to the lawn and quickly made her way over to the gravity room. She had been planning on this escape for weeks to be used when she became too fed up with Yamcha. Today, Bulma was not in the mood to deal with Yamcha, and she knew that her mother would never turn away a friend of the family, so this was her only option. It was good timing, because Vegeta was just coming out of the gravity chamber, wiping his face and neck with his ever-present towel.

"Vegeta! I need your help!"

"Don't you think you've asked for my help far too many times already, woman? You're lucky you're not dead yet after that lie."

Bulma waved her hands dismissively. "Ugh! Forget about that! Just go along with my newest plan, okay? It's nothing bad, it has nothing to do with rape, I promise!"

Vegeta was about protest before he noticed Yamcha emerging from the house and looking in their direction. "Huh…don't tell me that this is some way to get back at Yamcha…"

"Well," Bulma said as she wrung her hands, "maybe…"

By this time, Yamcha was close upon them. Bulma had noticed that Vegeta's face had become more set and stern, so she realized that Yamcha was getting close. She chose this time to start with her plan by practically pouncing on Vegeta and hugging him. Unfortunately, she forgot to take into account that people sweat when they train, and man sweat was not the most pleasing smell in the world. The result was that Bulma was nearly knocked out by Vegeta's strong odor, a smell that had been two full days in the making, as Vegeta had trained almost non-stop for that amount of time.

"What the-"

"Just go along with it!" she hissed.

"Bulma?" Yamcha asked incredulously. He wondered why Bulma was hugging Vegeta and, more importantly, why was Vegeta letting her?

She turned and beamed at him with a slight giggle. "Oh, Yamcha! I have good news! Vegeta and I are together now!"

Yamcha didn't make any reaction. He was sure that she meant together as in…well, together, but he didn't want to believe it. Would she stoop so low? …No way! "What do you mean by together?" he asked, trying to appear unconcerned.

Vegeta looked at Bulma sideways, also wanting to know what she meant by "together."

"Well, I mean together! As in 'going out,' 'boyfriend/girlfriend,' that sort of thing, you know? Just now too! We've sort of been getting close to each other over the past few months, and now we want to make it official."

It was true in a way. Bulma knew tons more about Vegeta than she had known a few months ago, but he didn't tell her anything. She got it through their growing bond.

Vegeta stared horrified at her for even thinking to say that they were getting together. What had he been avoiding her for? To have her declare her love for him? No! To avoid her and to avoid the bond, which by the way was growing in strength nonetheless.

"Wh-what?" Yamcha was in a state of disbelief. "When? I never noticed you two getting close!"

"Well, Yamcha, you aren't here all the time…especially at night," she replied playfully.

Vegeta struggled to keep back his protests. If this plan of hers would get Yamcha off of his back, then so be it, he would go along with it.

"Have you two…? No, never mind. I don't want to know. Bulma, I thought WE were getting closer."

"I thought YOU said you wanted to just be friends again."

"But you, with Vegeta? Mass-murderer of planets? Why him? Couldn't you have just gone with Krillen instead? Or Tien? Someone less…evil?"

Bulma smiled and said in a sexy tone, "But Vegeta's a bad boy. Girls like that."

Vegeta was torn between several reactions. One was showing his anger for Bulma talking about him in this way and for making such insinuations. Another, and the one most wanting to break free, was laughter at the expression on Yamcha's face at the moment, which was a look of horror.

Yamcha struggled in vain to find something to say to either of them. He had no clue about what to do or to say and instead he chose to turn and fly away from the building. Bulma waited a few moments until she was sure that Yamcha was not coming back for a while before jumping up and screaming, "Woo!" in victory. Vegeta crossed his arms after she had untangled her arms from around his neck and stood watching her as she did a victory dance around the lawn. She did this for several minutes before she decided she had celebrated enough and turned to look at the quiet Vegeta.

"Why did THAT have to be your plan?" he asked.  
"Well, it's true, isn't it? We have a bond, we understand each other, soon we'll be in love and you'll be buying me teddy bears and bringing me chocolates and other presents to show your undying love for me and-"

"Enough." He held up his hand to stop her from continuing. "Tell me, did you think that whole thing through? Was what just occurred the only part to your plan?"

"Yes and yes. Why?"

"What the hell was your reasoning behind it?" He was definitely angered now, and he showed it. She couldn't possibly be so dumb as to think that that little trick would work.

"Yamcha won't bother us anymore if he thinks that you love me even a little. Vegeta," she spoke to him as she would a child, "when people are in love, they generally don't make threats of killing each other. If you are in love with me, you won't hurt me. Yamcha will get that."

"Or he will ignore that and see me for the murderer that I am and will be even more worried about you now that you are supposedly so blissfully and blindly in love with me. How is that for an interpretation?"

* * *

I don't know about you guys, but I found myself laughing during the second half of this chapter :-p

Shinigami-Virus: Thanks for the heads up. There will be something like that in there, but to me, the story isn't about the baby dying, really and that event was something to bring V/B together, rather than something to dwell on story-wise. Maybe it wasn't the best choice if I didn't plan to dwell on the event that brought them together, but I thought it was a good idea at the time. People react in different ways to deaths. When someone close to me died, people thought that I didn't care at all because I'm not the kind of person who shows my anguish in front of everyone or even to myself. I didn't think about it too much; kind of like Scarlett O'Hara's "I'll think about that tomorrow." I see Bulma as a very strong person, more like Scarlett O'Hara than I am anyway, and would definitely be saddened by such an unexpected death, but I'm not sure that Bulma would go around talking to her dead kid or about them the way you described the person you know as doing. I see her as being very sad for a while, but after she works it through for herself, she will not let it rule her life and will come back stronger than ever. Some people do what you said, and I have a feeling that when a particular person in my life dies, I'm going to do it myself, but I don't know that an unexpected baby would dosomething drastic to such a strong character like Bulma. But, like I said, there will be anguish and comparisons between the unborn baby and Trunks that I don't want to give away since they will appear later; I'm not completely heartless! You have given me a few ideas, though!

To All: Will everyone tell me what they think? If everyone thinks that Bulma would be completely broken up by this (BULMA based on what you all have read and seen of her, not based on yourself or on the general population because I know that generally people get depressed and feel like they can't go on when their baby dies. I want an unbiased consensus on what Bulma would feel like.), then I will steer my story a different way than it's going.

Also To All: I just realized that my favorite short story (I always seem to do better at the shorter ones…), _Don't Stay_, fits in perfectly with this story, even though it was written before I even had this story in my head. I guess I have what happened to B/V in my own mind and it all fits together in a way. But yeah, that story would take place sort of as an aside to this one. Like when it's mentioned that Yamcha has cheated before and Bulma has threatened to leave him, that short fic is an instance of it.

Lady Branwen


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